They probably caught enough flak with how incredibly unserviceable AirPods were and decided not to repeat the same mistake, especially here where it wouldn't give any benefit at all. Kind of a no-brainer, but you never know with Apple...
I got knock off ones. Yeah, they nice. I lost them in about 3 weeks. First one bud, then the other. Shame but I'm 5 years into my Bose over ears and I don't think I'll lose them.
I mean, yeah they're kinda small. But you losing them is nobody else's fault. I've been using AirPods since 2016 and have never lost one. All because I make sure to always follow the rule that they are not to be placed anywhere but in their case. Ever. Not for a minute.
Many of the people I know who travel a lot will only use over-ear headphones, as even the best in-ear and earbud headphones can get pretty uncomfortable with the pressure changes that happen on an airplane.
I have a fairly good set of in-ear 'phones that I can wear pretty much indefinitely on the ground, but I usually can't get keep them in for more than a couple hours while I'm on a plane. I've tried using different tips for them while on a plane, but nothing works.
I don't think it's reasonable to expect user replaceable batteries in airpods themselves - case, perhaps. That's one form factor where it's not only small, but every gram lighter matters.
Having a replaceable battery kind of undermines its potential as an anti-theft device, so it's not true that there wouldn't be any be benefit at all to having a non-replaceable battery.
