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AirPods 2 Teardown

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Re: AirPods 2 Teardown

#31

Post by snthd »

Eric_WVGG wrote: post #6
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #3

And the repairability score is zero . I am quite concerned about these all ending up in landfills due to battery degradation. Apple claims it can "recycle" them, but that's legitimately hard to believe. I would not feel morally comfortable owning one of these.

Apple produced a pretty wild video about their iPhone-recycling robot. “True innovation means considering what happens to a product at every stage of its life cycle.” Even has a name, Liam. It would do a lot to put my mind at ease if Apple produced a similar video showing how AirPods get torn down, although it's early enough in their history that Apple is probably just throwing expired AirPods in a shipping container…

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/yp73jw/apple-recy...

> "Materials are manually and mechanically disassembled and shredded into commodity-sized fractions of metals, plastics, and glass," John Yeider, Apple's recycling program manager, wrote under a heading called "Takeback Program Report" in a 2013 report to Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. "All hard drives are shredded in confetti-sized pieces. The pieces are then sorted into commodities grade materials. After sorting, the materials are sold and used for production stock in new products. No reuse. No parts harvesting. No resale."

As the article points out recycling should be a last resort (after reuse). Apple is deliberately obstructive of that.

Re: AirPods 2 Teardown

#32

Post by Wowfunhappy »

mikestew wrote: post #28
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what, plausibly, do you think they might be doing? I generally operate under the belief that companies avoid outright lying, particularly major ones like Apple. But, they may be stretching the truth, such as by salvaging a neglible amount of material and then chucking the rest. I'm not seeing a clear process on how they could do more than that. Also, even if Apple is able to extract and reuse the metals or some su…

So what, plausibly, do you think they might be doing? It's LifeHacker, consider the source: https://lifehacker.com/how-to-recycle-your-airpods-183357932... "In a phone conversation, an Apple spokesperson confirmed that these AirPods are then distributed to recyclers who specialize in electronic waste along with instructions on how to break apart the components."

> are then distributed to recyclers who specialize in electronic waste

So, nothing like Daisy. I sadly don't find this encouraging.

Re: AirPods 2 Teardown

#33

Post by Daniel_sk »

turtlebits wrote: post #8
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #3

And the repairability score is zero . I am quite concerned about these all ending up in landfills due to battery degradation. Apple claims it can "recycle" them, but that's legitimately hard to believe. I would not feel morally comfortable owning one of these.

Considering that Apple will send you prepaid shipping label to recycle your devices, I don't expect they would just toss them in the landfill.

Probably only in US.

Re: AirPods 2 Teardown

#34

Post by snaky »

mikestew wrote: post #28
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what, plausibly, do you think they might be doing? I generally operate under the belief that companies avoid outright lying, particularly major ones like Apple. But, they may be stretching the truth, such as by salvaging a neglible amount of material and then chucking the rest. I'm not seeing a clear process on how they could do more than that. Also, even if Apple is able to extract and reuse the metals or some su…

So what, plausibly, do you think they might be doing? It's LifeHacker, consider the source: https://lifehacker.com/how-to-recycle-your-airpods-183357932... "In a phone conversation, an Apple spokesperson confirmed that these AirPods are then distributed to recyclers who specialize in electronic waste along with instructions on how to break apart the components."

Then they appear at Aliexpress with fresh batteries for half the price.

Re: AirPods 2 Teardown

#35

Post by ericwood »

jaxbot wrote: post #2

My main interest is in Bluetooth 5. Walking around NYC, in even semi-congested areas of Manhattan, my audio cuts out with my phone in my front pants pocket. I literally have to hold it in my hand or coat pocket in order to cut through the interference. Has anyone experienced improvement when upgrading in this regard?

I constantly had this problem, especially at intersections, and actually read recently on twitter (I wish I could dig up the details!) that transmitters the MTA uses to communicate with trains occupy a similar part of the spectrum. This partially explains why the effects seem to be the most dramatic at intersections that happen to have trains beneath them.

Re: AirPods 2 Teardown

#36

Post by xeromal »

snaky wrote: post #34
mikestew wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what, plausibly, do you think they might be doing? It's LifeHacker, consider the source: https://lifehacker.com/how-to-recycle-your-airpods-183357932... "In a phone conversation, an Apple spokesperson confirmed that these AirPods are then distributed to recyclers who specialize in electronic waste along with instructions on how to break apart the components."

Then they appear at Aliexpress with fresh batteries for half the price.

That's fantastic. Reuse is the best form of recycling.

Re: AirPods 2 Teardown

#37

Post by ikeboy »

frou_dh wrote: post #11

You can get good knockoffs ("i12 TWS") for ~$25 delivered from China, these days. If it's the combination of non-repairability and price that bothers you, a 6x price warp sure softens the blow.

I've had good experience with Funcl AI, they run almost constant deals at $50 on Amazon. Just Google around for the most recent coupon code, e.g. https://m.androidcentral.com/thrifter-deal-funcl-ai-true-wir... now has them at $40

Re: AirPods 2 Teardown

#38

Post by gumby »

turtlebits wrote: post #8
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #3

And the repairability score is zero . I am quite concerned about these all ending up in landfills due to battery degradation. Apple claims it can "recycle" them, but that's legitimately hard to believe. I would not feel morally comfortable owning one of these.

Considering that Apple will send you prepaid shipping label to recycle your devices, I don't expect they would just toss them in the landfill.

Why? Nescafe happily takes back used coffee pods and then tosses them. It's good PR -- good enough that my GF dumps them in the recycling "because they are recyclable: Nescafe takes them".

Re: AirPods 2 Teardown

#39

Post by pfranz »

jaxbot wrote: post #2

My main interest is in Bluetooth 5. Walking around NYC, in even semi-congested areas of Manhattan, my audio cuts out with my phone in my front pants pocket. I literally have to hold it in my hand or coat pocket in order to cut through the interference. Has anyone experienced improvement when upgrading in this regard?

I only have experience with original AirPods, but at home I've often made it really really far away before I realized my phone is on the other side of the house. It only seems to cut off when I go outside with the phone left inside and walk away from the house. I haven't had patience enough with previous BT headphones to see if this is unique, but with AirPods+iPhone the audio pauses when it loses signal, which is much preferable to just the audio cutting out.

Conversely, when I power on the microwave within a few seconds audio will cut out repeatedly until it's unlistenable with the phone in my pocket if I'm anywhere in the kitchen. I'm not sure of a workaround and I'm sure if this was common I'd find them unusable.

I feel like there are a few times when walking around a busy place I get what you're talking about. Thankfully, it's not a common scenario for me.

Re: AirPods 2 Teardown

#40

Post by pfranz »

stronglikedan wrote: post #29
jaxbot wrote: post #2

My main interest is in Bluetooth 5. Walking around NYC, in even semi-congested areas of Manhattan, my audio cuts out with my phone in my front pants pocket. I literally have to hold it in my hand or coat pocket in order to cut through the interference. Has anyone experienced improvement when upgrading in this regard?

Not sure if it's the same phenomenon, but I have to keep my phone in the front pocket on the same side as the BT receiver to completely avoid choppy audio, and that's when I'm walking completely alone with no one in visible distance. EDIT: I'm referring to the BT 5 protocol in general, and not specifically AirPods. I've tried a few devices where I've experienced this.

How does that work with AirPods? My understanding is that both are receivers and they communicate with each other for sync.
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