
Your AirPods Will Die Soon - akeck
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/03/your-airpods-probably-have-terrible-battery-life/585439/
======
esilver
Every one of my devices is from Apple: phone, laptop, and yes, AirPods. My
practice has been to sell any devices after four years and use the proceeds to
buy new. AirPods are probably the first Apple device I've bought that will
likely have no resale value; after all, I put them in my ears. Reading about
the Fairphone mentioned in the article [0] and the related iFixit teardown [1]
made me pretty envious. While I find it highly unlikely I would leave the
Apple ecosystem due to security and ease-of-use I would love to be able to
make minor repairs on my devices and keep them for more than four or five
years. Apple's been investing in making device components more recyclable [2]
but also in making devices less repairable. Regulation seems like the wrong
way to compel change but I doubt Apple or others will elect to do so without
clear mandates from regulators or customers.

[0] [https://www.fairphone.com/en/our-
goals/recycling/](https://www.fairphone.com/en/our-goals/recycling/)

[1]
[https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Fairphone+2+Teardown/52523](https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Fairphone+2+Teardown/52523)

[2] [https://www.apple.com/environment/safer-
materials/](https://www.apple.com/environment/safer-materials/)

~~~
Scoundreller
If you want to stretch out your contribution to your next purchase, part out
your old hardware.

I earned a lot more parting out my old MacBook Airs than I would selling them
as a full unit with well-worn charger and battery.

Learned a lot too about the internals.

And I sold _every_ component. Even the screws.

~~~
anoncake
> Even the screws.

Why? Dont normal screw dont work in Apple devices? Or do people think they
dont? Are their heads more beautiful?

~~~
superhuzza
Probably because it's easier to order 'genuine macbook pro 2019 screws' than
try and find other screws with the exact same dimensions?

~~~
Scoundreller
And who knows what kind of shitanium is used by 3rd party manufacturers. Or
lots rejected by Apple that find their way to market.

------
skaevola
The problem is that most consumers' revealed preference is for better
performance rather than replaceability or device longevity (I know some people
here will express a different preference, but you are a minority of
consumers). Consumers don't factor device longevity into their purchase
decisions, so companies don't prioritize it during the design process. And it
needs to be prioritized because design decisions for longevity involve
tradeoffs with other device performance metrics like size, weight, battery
life (you can improve battery longevity by decreasing the depth of discharge
of the battery before a recharge is required), processor performance, price.

Unfortunately this article clearly demonstrates the problems companies face
when they try to improve longevity at the cost of performance. Apple
implemented processor throttling based on measured battery condition to
improve the longevity of their devices, but even in this article, seemingly
focused on device longevity, they still receive criticism for this decision:

"But even consumers who hang onto their old iPhones for as long as possible
learned in 2017 that Apple released a software update that slows down old
phones to counteract aging lithium-ion battery problems."

~~~
jonfw
Throttling CPU in a non-transparent and non-configurable manner is not an
acceptable means to increase longevity.Maybe it works for your grandmother who
just wants to continue to send text messages, but most people want to use
their smartphones for running actual applications.

Particularly when iphone batteries have honestly not shown to be that
difficult to replace batteries of. But when you start throttling perceived
performance, you're not willing to replace battery for something that as far
as you know has lost it's ability to perform at it's original capacity.

I agree with your first point, but it's frankly absurd to imply that secret
CPU throttling is a remotely acceptable manner of extending longevity.

~~~
photojosh
Do you think upfront transparency about CPU throttling is an acceptable manner
of extending longevity?

~~~
frosted-flakes
If it's paired with the option to disable throttling, absolutely.

------
mikysco
This piece positions Apple as a nefarious actor with exploitative intent. I'd
imagine that if Apple built products without holding aesthetics in the highest
esteem (like many Android or non-Apple manufacturers do), their audience
wouldn't be willing to buy. The market has clearly voted with its dollars -
think of how bulky ultra-low-profile earbuds would become if their batteries
were replaceable, or how much more susceptible to water damage & general
abuse.

And Apple already runs a fairly generous program for old iPhones, which btw,
last far longer than their Android counter-parts.

Anyway, not to say that Apple can't improve its recycling process (or
incentive systems for consumers to recycle) but to my knowledge, it's far
ahead of the competition.

~~~
anoncake
Customers may prefer Apples earbuds, but we dont know if that is because they
prefer aesthetic ones over ones with replaceable batteries. We would only know
that if Apple also made Airbuds with replaceable batteries -- i.e. same
general design, same build quality, same pairing UX, same brand etc. -- but
with replaceable batteries and the associated trade-offs.

Since they dont do that, its more appropriate to blame Apple than its
customers. Customers cannot choose between replaceable batteries and bulk,
only between the packages that companies offer.

------
jandrese
I suppose given the necessarily tight integration that replacing the batteries
is near-impossible on these? I've actually come around on the "non-
replaceable" batteries on phones because it ends up being literally a once-in-
a-lifetime event for the phone, and it turns out that it's actually just an
hour or so to replace the battery.

But these AirPods are so damn tiny it's hard to imagine them being constructed
in any way that isn't filled with glue and making clean battery replacement
straight up impossible.

------
gdulli
My first instinct when I saw these was that if they'd been invented first, I'd
have held out until they invented a wired version. Simpler, cheaper, harder to
lose, more reliable.

------
pcurve
Don't they just replace the whole bud as part of "battery service"? Basically
$138 for the pair + 7 shipping. Or do they give you refurbs?

Shame Samsung Buds sound quality isn't high based on all the reviews...
because it has easy to replace coin battery.

~~~
username3
Apple says $69 to replace one. Article says $49 to replace batteries. You can
buy new ones for $139.

~~~
sgwae
Its 1 dollar cheaper to buy a new set than to replace them indivudually.
Typical apple.

------
mr_toad
I’ve never had any earbud style headphones last more than a few years. Usually
the very thin wire breaks partly or completely.

My AirPods have outlasted two sets of EarPods.

------
jackjeff
Oh the irony of reading this article on a four and a half year old iPhone 6
fully patched and running the lastest version of iOS...

~~~
bjoli
My wife's iPhone 6 is on its 3rd touch-IC repair cycle. She keeps it in her
back pocket and thus bends it slightly, and in 4 months it starts showing
flexion damage.

The whole touch-IC debacle is crazy. The fact that they fix it by just
replacing the board with another one that will be defective in X months
instead of actually soldering it correctly is a disgrace.

And a failed drive in our iMac made the Apple store declare it broken beyond
repair and offered us to replace most of the device which would be about as
expensive as buying a new one.

I ended up doing it myself. I will never get another iDevice.

~~~
imandride
My boss recently have me six of her previous MacBooks that Apple deemed
unrepairable, stating liquid damage on all of them. Upon further inspection
only one had liquid damage, two had unresponsive touchpads, one non
functioning keyboard, one a shattered screen, and a screen that was peeling
excessively. I was astonished at the disrespect they have for their own
customers.

~~~
brokenmachine
Your boss bought 5 replacement MacBooks instead of just saying, "I never
spilled liquid into any of these"?

TBH I'm astonished at what Apple customers accept.

~~~
bjoli
What are they supposed to say? Apple computers have small moisture indicators
in their computers and when those are tripped you won't get anything for free.

~~~
brokenmachine
They are supposed to say, "I don't care what the indicator says, I never
spilled anything on this laptop".

If the indicator doesn't do what it's supposed to then why would you accept it
once? Why would someone accept it 5 times??

As a comment, if the other parts of the laptop can fail it's not unreasonable
to think that the moisture indicator could also fail.

