Side note, this teardown is very well done, and organized. I don't think I've ever seen these before, but I'm a big fan. I love how easy it is to digest, and all the supporting media for it is great. Awesome detail, and very informative!
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?
How can anyone in their right mind claim that Apple is a 'green' company?<p>In 5-10 years we will have 10s of million dead and useless AirPods due to degraded and broken batteries. So much unnecessary e-waste!
Earbud holder is a strange place to put a wireless charging dock -- I always thought there are two prongs that get magnetically attached to charging ports.<p>Inductive charging is only about 60% efficient, so in theory you only get 398*0.6=238.8mAh of charge, which is a little bit more than a single full recharge of 2x93mAh earbuds.
You can get good knockoffs ("i12 TWS") for ~$25 delivered from China, these days.<p>If it's the combination of non-repairability and price that bothers you, a 6x price warp sure softens the blow.
How are those battery terminals connected to the logic board - it has no connector header, just flat leads? Hard to keep up with miniaturization of connectors!
And the repairability score is <i>zero</i>.<p>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.<p>I would not feel morally comfortable owning one of these.