After a decade of zeros, AirPods finally scored above 0 on repairability

iFixit's teardown of the new AirPods 5 found that the battery inside each earbud can now be removed and replaced without destroying the device, something no AirPods model has ever allowed before. That single change earned the AirPods 5 a 2 out of 10 repairability score, the first time any AirPods model has scored above a flat zero.

Why it matters: repairability scores aren't just an abstract grade, they reflect whether a real person can realistically fix a device they already own instead of buying a whole new one. A battery that degrades over a year or two of daily use has, until now, meant replacing the entire earbud, glued shut and effectively disposable by design.

iFixit's method relies on a regular hairdryer to soften the adhesive holding each earbud together, a meaningfully more accessible approach than the soldering and hot air guns previous AirPods teardowns required just to get inside at all.

• Access method: hairdryer to soften adhesive, then precision tools to open the shell.
• Important limitation: left and right batteries are not interchangeable, due to reversed polarity and different contact placement.
• Skill level: still realistically limited to skilled DIY users or repair professionals, not a casual fix.

In real life it's the difference between needing a surgeon's toolkit to open something versus needing the same hairdryer already sitting in your bathroom drawer, still a real repair job, just one a determined person could actually attempt at home.

Background: since the original AirPods launched in 2016, the battery inside each earbud has been sealed in with strong adhesive and connected to the circuit board through soldering, a design that makes any repair attempt effectively destructive.

iFixit has handed every single AirPods model a flat 0 out of 10 for an entire decade as a direct result, and repair shops have often declined to even attempt battery swaps given how difficult and unreliable the process was.

Why it matters: that decade-long record is exactly why a score of 2, still low in absolute terms, counts as a genuinely notable shift. It's the first crack in a repairability record that had been completely uniform since the product line began.

Not broadly, no. iFixit was clear that "going any further into the earbuds is still impossible without destroying them, and the same is true of their charging case." The components beyond the battery, including the H2 chip, MEMS microphones, and other internals, remain heavily glued and densely packed, exactly as difficult to service as on prior generations.

Who's affected: that means owners get meaningfully better odds of fixing a dead battery specifically, the single most common reason earbuds eventually get replaced, but shouldn't expect any other component, or the charging case itself, to become any easier to repair if something else breaks down the line.

No. The AirPods Pro 3, released in 2025, was still scored a flat 0 out of 10 by iFixit's teardown of that model. This repairability improvement is specific to the standard AirPods 5 line, and hasn't extended to Apple's higher-end Pro earbuds, at least not yet.

Why it matters: that split suggests this wasn't a company-wide repairability policy shift so much as a specific design change made to one particular product line, leaving open whether Apple will bring the same approach to future Pro models or treat it as a one-off for the standard line.

Background: Apple hasn't publicly explained the specific reasoning behind the redesigned battery housing, but the change arrives amid years of intensifying right-to-repair pressure on tech companies broadly. Regulators in markets like the European Union have increasingly pushed for consumer electronics, including small devices like earbuds, to support component replacement rather than being sealed for their entire lifespan.

Why it matters: even a narrow, single-component improvement like this one fits a pattern of major tech companies making incremental repairability concessions as regulatory and consumer pressure builds, rather than waiting for repairability requirements to be mandated outright.

By the numbers: yes, a specific one. A new EU battery regulation takes effect on February 18, 2027, requiring batteries in phones, tablets, and similar devices to be removable and replaceable without damaging the device, using only commercially available tools, or no tools at all.

Manufacturers won't be able to rely on proprietary specialized tools unless they're provided free with the product, and replacement batteries must stay available for at least five years after a device's last sale.

Why it matters: that deadline lands well within the useful lifespan of products being designed and released right now, including future AirPods generations. A company redesigning battery housings ahead of a hard regulatory cutoff, rather than purely out of goodwill, is a familiar pattern across consumer electronics, and offers a plausible explanation for why Apple made this change to the AirPods 5 now rather than years earlier.

The regulation's scope extends beyond phones and earbuds too, covering electric bikes and scooters, devices roughly 8% of Europeans already rely on as their primary transportation, rising to 41% in the Netherlands specifically. That breadth signals the EU is treating repairable batteries as a baseline expectation across consumer electronics generally, not a narrow carve-out for one product category.

Devices placed on the EU market before the February 2027 cutoff aren't retroactively covered, so existing AirPods models won't need to comply after the fact. But any AirPods generation Apple releases from that date forward inside the EU will need to meet the new standard regardless of what the company decides elsewhere.

• If your AirPods 5 battery degrades, a real repair option may now exist, through a skilled repair shop or an experienced DIY attempt, rather than only a full replacement purchase.
• Don't expect to fix anything else on the earbuds yourself. The chip, microphones, and other internals remain effectively sealed, exactly as before.
• The charging case is still not repairable at all, so a damaged or malfunctioning case still means a full case replacement.
• If you own AirPods Pro 3 or an earlier standard AirPods model, this specific improvement doesn't apply to your earbuds. It's unique to the AirPods 5 generation so far.