AirPods’ Dirty Secret (and how I’m fighting it!)

HTTPS:// The first and second generations of AirPods made by Apple were given a score of 0 out of 10 by repair specialists at iFixit. AirPods are not designed to be serviced. No hardware components can be accessed without damage to the device, making it a consumable/disposable item. Tens of millions of devices were sold, each one having three sealed-in batteries. This makes it a total electronic waste disaster.   After the success of Ken Pillonel’s previous project, the world’s first USB-C iPhone, he decided to focus on trying to mitigate the AirPods disaster through an engineering project. The goal was to find a solution that gives a second life to the unopenable cases, which all face an inevitable end of life because of their built-in battery. The solution proposed consists of making available a 3D-printed replacement part that can be downloaded by anyone. The AirPods case can therefore be purposefully damaged while disassembly, then repairs can be made inside, an