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I loved my AirPods. Then the batteries gave up the ghost, and I was left with small, expensive, probably toxic electronic garbage. It ruined the brand for me an
by subpixel 6y ago
I loved my AirPods. Then the batteries gave up the ghost, and I was left with small, expensive, probably toxic electronic garbage. It ruined the brand for me and I can't imagine buying another pair of AirPods.
- nouveaux 6y agoWhile it sucks that your batteries are bad, Apple will recycle the toxic electronics.
- throwaway9980 6y agoBut at least it’s small? I mean, one dead laptop is the equivalent of many lifetimes worth of AirPods in terms of waste. Of all the things that could be disposable this seems like the least concerning. A Tesla contains orders of magnitudes more plastic, electronics, and batteries that will one day be junk and you will go through maybe 3 sets of AirPods before you trade in for a newer model EV?
- judge2020 6y agoCars in general are pretty wasteful, even outside of the manufacturing process. I'd be surprised if Teslas wasted more raw 'energy' when totaled compared to the waste caused by extracting, refining, transporting, and then burning oil and all the human labor that goes into that.
- saagarjha 6y agoThey don't, only a fraction of a typical car's lifetime emissions come from its manufacturing process.
- grogenaut 6y agoThere are orders of magnitude more consumer devices than cars.
- toxik 6y agoSurely it will be possible to replace them in repair shops? Not for the home gamer obviously, but neither are screen repairs - and I’m really happy with my third party screen repair. My AirPods also lack battery capacity now, to a degree that it’s annoyingly short. I accidentally came over a second pair, but yeah a new pair of earphones every two to three years sounds expensive to me. Problem is, they work so spectacularly well otherwise that I don’t know how that I could stand anything else. Part of this is that Apple seem to intentionally make other headsets work less well. For example by not routing calls through the headset by default, such a joke.
- quicklime 6y agoThere was an article on HN recently about someone who took apart their AirPods. The battery was glued in, and not possible to remove and replace.
- reaperducer 6y agoOut-of-warranty battery replacement is $49.
- kranner 6y agoIf batteries last only a year and there is no third-party alternative, this is a subscription.
- darthrupert 6y agoWhy would they last only a year?
- kranner 6y agoOthers have said so elsewhere in the thread.
- kemayo 6y agoI feel I should note that it's $49 each. Since the pair is presumably getting similar battery wear, it's likely that this is in-practice a $100 fee.
- subpixel 6y agoThat is so Apple, I can't stand it.
- donor20 6y agoUmm. - Do an in warranty battery replacement (within 1 year) - Pay a repair shop or apple for a new battery. - Apple runs one of the most comprehensive recycling and trade-in programs out there. Every store offers both trade-in value for devices that have it and free recycling for those that don't. https://www.apple.com/recycling/nationalservices/ https://www.apple.com/recycling/nationalservices/ - They will send you a fedex label if you want to fedex in your airpods for recycling if you are too lazy to actually go to a store. People helping the environment are out there doing it, and others sit on HN too lazy to take even the minimal steps to reduce their impact. And no, other companies you buy your totally wireless bluetooth headphones from do not make all this easier, but MUCH MUCH harder.
- saagarjha 6y agoThat "warranty battery replacement" is almost certainly going to be giving you a new pair of AirPods.