[illliillll]

This seems kind of obvious. How many Apple Watches and AirPods have ever become obsolete due to their batteries not being replaceable?

I’d guess the number is pretty close to zero, these devices aren’t used for long enough for this to become a problem.

If the goal was to sell more AirPods, not implementing “Find My” for them would’ve been a much better strategy.

[SomeUserName432]

> How many Apple Watches and AirPods have ever become obsolete due to their batteries not being replaceable?

Every single pair of AirPods I've had has died due to one of them not charging anymore. I assume it's the battery.

No idea where/how/who looks into this though, so I've just bought new ones.

[illliillll]

This is probably just your AirPods or the case getting dirty, doesn’t sound like a failing battery at all.

[frereubu]

Yeah, I've taken both my iPhone and Airpods into an Apple Store a couple of times and they cleaned the lightning / internal charging ports for free when the charging started getting a bit shaky, and haven't had any issues since. I'm slightly bemused that people don't think of this - a colleague was talking about getting a whole new iPhone because the lightning charging was getting a bit unreliable, but taking it in to get the port cleaned entirely restored it.

[SomeUserName432]

I'll keep it in mind when these fail.

[kalleboo]

My first gen AirPods became e-waste in 18 months due to the battery no longer lasting through a meeting. My AirPods Pro 2 have lasted a lot longer but I'm sure then they do die it will be due to the batteries.

[netsharc]

Product idea: charging cables: snake the cable up to your AirPods while they're in your ears, use magnets to attach to the battery terminals and deliver juice.

But argh, I have a feeling the AirPods turn themselves off while being charged...

[jimnotgym]

I have a product idea. The headphones could be passive and a wire run from them to the device that wants to make noise through them?

[javier2]

My old earpods were abandoned because the battery didnt even last a 40 minute run

[elil17]

My 6 year old Airpods Pro are barely chugging along at this point. I'm only getting a couple hours per charge.

[chickenimprint]

You allude to another reason people stop using them, besides battery degradation and loss, what is it?

[dep_b]

Loss or breakage.

I had the original AirPods and vowed to never buy them again because replacing the battery was so expensive.

Just ridiculous to throw away expensive audio equipment because battery replacement is as expensive as 50% of a new pair.

While good headphones from the 70s are still good, maybe with some foam replacements.

[jimnotgym]

I love it when you see people with a tether on their airpods to prevent loss. My headphones have a special tether which means they will never need a battery replacement, or indeed a battery

[illliillll]

Loss obviously being the #1.

Dropping, and then stepping on them seems like a common failure mode.

Dirt can stop the charging, most people will just replace instead of cleaning.

Even replacing the rubber tips is probably too much to expect from most people.