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And what apple is betting on is that people will prefer their totally sealed, light as possible, "throwaway" $200 product over the competitions user service, re
by privateSFacct 7y ago
And what apple is betting on is that people will prefer their totally sealed, light as possible, "throwaway" $200 product over the competitions user service, replaceable battery option.
It is the same bet they have made repeatedly with their phones. Smaller sim card (obsoleting old approaches) - removing headphone jack, switching to lighting, doing totally sealed (but durable) devices etc.
It's generally paid off - oddly people seem to prefer used apple products (ie, beleive in their durability) over used logitech headphones or android phones - so the actual life of apple products ends up being pretty long.
Apple's battery service fee is $49 for airpods and useful life is perhaps around 3 years, if you keep wanting to replace the batteries every three years. My quick sense is that most folks may retire their airpods after the second battery (6 years in) at the longer end.
So far their approach has paid of tremendously for them.
I am curious what other headphone providers are doing here. Ie, how easy is it to get a fresh set of batteries after 3 years that are of high quality and replace them. I've gotten burned replacing batteries in products with amazon replacements and the mfg sometimes doesn't even stock or sell new batteries for their devices so I've gone with Apple for now - if you go into their store for a new battery I've never had a problem with quality.
- jeffnappi 7y agoCalling it battery service is interesting - they are most definitely simply replacing the AirPod. The $49 battery fee is for a single AirPod - replacement for the pair is $99. The question I have is if they are able to meaningfully recycle the used AirPods or if they just end up in the landfill?
- bspammer 7y agoI'd bet the average person contributes 10 times more plastic waste every single day than a single pair of airpods (by weight). Yes it's still wasteful, but one of the absolute least impactful places to start optimizing your life given how useful the things can be over their 2-3 year lifespan.
- CameronNemo 7y agoI do not think the plastic is what is concerning. It is the energy put into manufacturing and shipping the item. This is a high end electronic device, with a bluetooth modem and a lithium ion battery. Plastic waste is one of the least significant problems here.
- heavyset_go 7y ago> The question I have is if they are able to meaningfully recycle the used AirPods or if they just end up in the landfill? First they get sold as refurbished products in their primary market, or sold in 3rd world markets at a discount, and then they end up in landfills.
- ReverseCold 7y ago> Smaller sim card (obsoleting old approaches) I've always just cut the old ones to fit and it's worked fine.