Can users disassemble and repair Apple's wireless earphones 'AirPods' with their own hands?



Hugh Jeffrey, who has released various gadget disassembly and repair movies on YouTube, disassembles and repairs Apple's wireless earphone ' AirPods ' in response to many requests from users. It is open to the public.

Apple's 'Disposable & UNFIXABLE' $ 250 AirPods --e-waste problem --YouTube


Jeffrey, who has disassembled and repaired various smartphones and laptops with his own hands and published the situation on YouTube, asked AirPods users 'Is it possible to repair the battery with my own hands?' It seems that he has received many times.



Therefore, Jeffrey is verifying whether the used AirPods provided by the viewer can be disassembled and repaired by himself.



First, start by cleaning the special case and the main body. A cotton swab, toothbrush, alcohol and paper towels are used to clean the case.



Clean the AirPods body in the same way. Wipe the entire area with a paper towel, and then clean the speaker area with a cotton swab.



Next, check the operation. It seems that it can be paired with the iPhone without problems. However, it seems that the remaining battery level of the AirPods and the special case was reduced by more than 10% during the short time it took for cleaning, and it can be seen that the battery is considerably exhausted.



Also, earphones such as AirPods have earwax on the speaker grill.



Therefore, remove the speaker grill. Insert the tip of the tweezers into the mesh-shaped speaker grill ...



Forcibly remove it from the main body.



In the case of wired earphones, it seems that the dust accumulated in the grill will not be a problem because the structure is simple, but in the case of wireless earphones, the dust accumulated inside will cause a malfunction over time. There is a possibility. In the case of AirPods disassembled by Jeffrey, a lot of sticky and sticky stains were accumulated inside.



Remove this dirt with a cotton swab, and the cleaning work of the main body is completed.



So, full-scale disassembly work starts from here. First, disassemble the special case for AirPods. No screws are used in the special case, so insert the metal spatula included in the

iFixit toolkit into the gap.




According to Jeffrey, it was easy to insert a spatula into the front part, but it was very difficult to insert a disassembly pick (blue) into the side part. However, the

spudger (silver) put in the gap opened with a spatula was very helpful in disassembling the parts.



By warming the case with a heat gun, the adhesive inside melts ...



At the end, I forcibly pulled out the internal parts with a spudger. Therefore, the part where the spudger is inserted is deformed in the plastic case.



The internal parts are T-shaped like this.



In addition, remove the battery inside the case. The battery is glued inside the case.



It looks like this when removed. The battery is connected to the case with a removable cable, so it can be replaced. However, as mentioned above, the case will be partially damaged when the battery is removed from the case.



Then disassemble the AirPods body. First of all, heat it with a heat gun to melt the adhesive. Mr. Jeffrey said that he warmed the AirPods body at about 200 degrees to melt the adhesive, but at this temperature 'the plastic started to melt', 'it was a little too high for heating,' Jeffrey said. Says.



Then insert the cutter into the seam.



And Pakari. You can see the logic board of the AirPods main unit.



As you disassemble the logic board part, you can see that a cable that is incredibly small and difficult to shoot is connected to the battery.



So, proceed with disassembling the main body from the side opposite to the part where the logic board is stored. Heat the silver parts at the tip of the AirPods with a heat gun ...



Remove this with a cutter.



Behind this part is a component such as a microphone, and further back is the AirPods battery.



The battery is attached to the plastic housing with adhesive, so heat it with a heat gun ...



I will forcibly peel off the case part with tweezers.




This is the removed battery. As you can see from the disassembly process so far, it seems impossible for the user to replace the AirPods battery by himself.



So Jeffrey asserts, 'It's impossible to repair AirPods on your own.'



Although the case part is partially damaged, it can be used as usual, but ...



Replacing the AirPods battery is literally 'impossible.'



According to Jeffrey, Samsung's Galaxy Buds have a replaceable battery, but it is also 'very difficult' for general users to disassemble and replace by themselves, so the technology is smart in a small size. The wireless earphones are a device that is extremely difficult for users to disassemble and repair by themselves.

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in Hardware,   Video, Posted by logu_ii