AirPods 5 are Apple’s most repairable earbuds yet. But that doesn’t mean much, as the case is “still a disaster” for repairability.
As the iFixit teardown team aptly puts it, the “AirPods 5 are the least unrepairable AirPods yet.”
AirPods 5 make battery swaps possible, but hardly easy
Over the last decade, all AirPods models received 0 out of 10 for repairability from the iFixit team. The AirPods 5 finally change that, earning 2 out of 10 in iFixit’s teardown. Not much, but the earbuds are at least repairable to some extent.
The team believes that skilled technicians and expert DIYers should be able to replace the batteries on the AirPods 5 themselves.
The good news is that getting inside the AirPods 5 is relatively easy. You don’t even need any special tools.
A hair dryer and a clamp work just fine. However, the repairer still needs to be careful, as the heat can melt the plastic stems.
Like the AirPods 3, the AirPods 5 use pronged batteries. However, the battery polarity is reversed on each bud. So, the battery for the left bud won’t work in the right bud, and vice versa.
Replacement batteries for AirPods 5 are not readily available yet. However, since the AirPods 5 are easier to open for battery replacement, this should change soon.
The case is still a disaster for repairability
Unfortunately, the same repair improvements don’t apply to the AirPods 5 charging case. They remain a disaster to pry open and carry out any kind of repairs.
“By the time we reached the battery, the case was destroyed. Inside, plastic welds stood where screws could have made further disassembly possible,” says the iFixit team in its teardown blog post.
The AirPods are not a part of Apple’s Self Service Repair program. So, you can’t easily find any replacement parts or repair manuals for them.
Add in a case that’s difficult to repair, and the AirPods 5 unsurprisingly score 2 out of 10 on iFixit’s repairability scorecard. That’s at least better than the 0 previous models received.
