AirPods Pro 3 Teardown Shows Apple's New Wireless Earbuds Have The Same Old Problem

Apple unveiled AirPods Pro 3 with new features and several improvements during the iPhone 17 launch event. The tweaked AirPods Pro 3 design includes a new case and foam-infused tips, which improve Active Noise Cancellation (ANC). The new AirPods Pro model is dust and water-resistant and also features heart rate sensors in the buds. The Live Translation feature and the improved battery life of the buds complete the list of essential things you need to know about the AirPods Pro 3. Factor in the unchanged price tag of $249 in the U.S., and the AirPods Pro 3 are among the best pairs of headphones one can buy.

Despite this, Apple has yet to fix the biggest issue with AirPods — repairability. The wireless earbuds and the case can't be repaired, which means the batteries inside them can't be replaced once they degrade over time. iFixit has released its AirPods Pro 3 teardown, where it shows how difficult it is to open an earbud to replace the battery. The redesigned case isn't any easier to take apart, even for the experienced experts at iFixit.

The video above shows how difficult it is to repair the AirPods Pro 3. iFixit's own words best describe the experience. "Opening up a bud requires heating it to just the right temperature and carefully prying it apart with sharp tools, often leaving permanent scars on the housing," the company writes. "Inside, the coin-cell battery is glued down so firmly that only heat, tweezers, and a lot of luck will free it. Even then, the design forces critical flex cables through solder points and glued channels that make reassembly nearly impossible. One wrong move and the microphone array or ANC hardware is toast. After hours of careful work, we ended up with shards of plastic, torn ribbon cables, and destroyed drivers. Not exactly a success story."

iFixit gave the AirPods Pro 3 a repairability score of zero. You'll have to dispose of the AirPods Pro 3 when the battery health degrades. We didn't really need iFixit's official teardown to know that the AirPods Pro 3 batteries can't be easily replaced, since that's been the case for all generations of the AirPods. If Apple ever manages to create a version with replaceable batteries, it would be a significant improvement from an environmental perspective.