What is understood by disassembling and disassembling apart Apple's "AirPods" which is hard to obtain?

Apple's wireless earphone announced in conjunction with iPhone 7/7 Plus that discontinued earphone jack "AirPods"Appeared in online store on December 14, 2016Even in the moment the inventory has fallen into stock shortage, even at the present momentWait 6 weeksIt is a product with high attention. A report that purchased and disassembled the valuable AirPods by haste was released by iFixit.

AirPods Teardown - iFixit
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/AirPods+Teardown/75578

AirPods is divided into two parts: a wireless earphone and a special case.


Wireless earphone will be decomposed first.


Since the plastic case on the outside of the wireless earphone has no joining surface, we cut it with a knife and decompose it. Before cutting, I will shoot AirPods with X-rays and check inside.


Considering that an adhesive is used inside the wireless earphone, first of all let's warm up the entire wireless earphone.


Cut with a knife when warm.


After cutting a notch on the circumference with a knife, you can break open with pick.


Inside is packed with small parts such as foundation and cable.


Cut the lower part of the earphone with a knife to take out internal parts. The metal part attached to the bottom part of the earphone is the part which becomes the contact point with the battery when put in the special case.


Because it is hardened with adhesive, removing metal parts was pretty hard. There is a battery inside.


Next, I will cut the long part which becomes the torso of AirPods vertically.


Cut the plastic case carefully with tweezers ... ...


Successfully taking out the antenna and the battery.


The battery installed in the wireless earphone is 93 mWh, which is about 1% of the battery capacity of the iPhone 7.


Next we will remove the board and cables etc.


The red part of the image is an Apple made W1 chip that improves Bluetooth connection and sound quality. The orange part is Maxim Integrated audio codec "98730 EWJ"Yellow part is Cypress Semiconductor's PSoC"CY8C4146FNIt was supposed to be. With this, the decomposition of the wireless earphone is over.


Next it is a special case to disassemble. Like the wireless earphone, the special case is also cut with a knife and disassembled.


When removing the upper part of the special case, the ribbon cable came out.


The LED light for notifying pairing that was attached to the tip of the ribbon cable.


The carcass part of the special case will be cut with a mini chain saw, but we will pay close attention so as not to damage the parts inside.


The battery pack is connected to the board on the body part.


What was installed was a lithium-ion battery made in China with 1.52 Wh at 3.81 V.


Remove the pairing buttons mounted on the back ... ...


Remove the very small screw and separate the lightning connector.


The main board is fixed to the tightness with the tape, and it is difficult to remove.


On the main board removed, NXP's battery charging IC "1610 A 3" was placed in the orange portion, ST "Micro Electroics"STM32L072"In the yellow part, ARM made"Cortex-M 0 + processor"Was installed on the market.


This completes the disassembly disassembly. The repair difficulty assessed from the disassembly work was "0 point" of the highest difficulty among 10 points (10 points is the easiest). Why repair difficulty was assessed to the highest is "It is impossible to repair the interior without destroying the case." When AirPods breaks, it seems good to bring it to the Apple Store without repairing it by yourself.