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As much as I liked my AirPods gen 1 and the features seem tempting, my personal experience with battery longevity on Apple headphones are not great. I’ve so far

As much as I liked my AirPods gen 1 and the features seem tempting, my personal experience with battery longevity on Apple headphones are not great. I’ve so far had the BeatsX, Beats Studio3 and AirPods. Almost all of them completely died within a year of purchase. The AirPods still work but using them is pointless since the battery life dropped to less than an hour so I just haven’t bothered. Mind you, this is not because I’m such a heavy user, I listen to music once or twice a week at most through headphones so it doesn’t seem like this should have happened. It’s kind of a shame because I really like the AirPods Pros for example, but if I don’t have a guarantee that I can get them repaired when this eventually happens then I feel like my money is better spent elsewhere.

gumby 5y ago
I am quite astonished as I have the opposite experience. My Airpods only go flat during long phone calls of more than two hours and I had them for at least a year before the Covid lockdown. You have a larger n than I do, but still I am surprised that they would wipe out after a year.
- elektrons 5y ago
  Same for me. My AirPods gen 1 are still going strong. I use them about 4-5 hours every day monday-Friday.
- bussierem 5y ago
  I'll add one to that n: I have a pair of airpods I got with my new job. Within a year they lasted less than 2h and never even at the start lasted longer than 3h. When playing D&D with friends I had to use one at a time and rotate them out to last the whole session. Are they small? Yes. I don't expect INCREDIBLE battery out of them. But my wife has a pair of Bose equivalent and they last like 6h a day on a single charge and continue to do so 3 years later. They are slightly larger which accounts for longer initial charge but the degredation on my airpods was stunningly bad. I ended up having to replace them this year (1.5y later) for a new set because they were no longer capable of supporting my work meeting schedule.
- beezischillin 5y ago
  I didn't really use them for voice calls myself. I readily admit that I might just have been extremely unlucky, I don't know. I really didn't like having to throw headphones away just because they simply wouldn't turn on anymore so I'm just very wary of spending money on these headphones right now, especially since Sony WM-1000s are hovering at a similar price point and my experience with those has been very positive: almost 3 years in now and the pair of mk2s I have works perfectly. If the battery was replaceable, even by professionals, I'd be far more likely to consider getting a new pair just because I miss them... and really, It's kind of a shame because the form factor and general operation of AirPods is really lovely, in my opinion. I was at first ready to be disappointed because they looked very similar to the wired ones Apple used to include with their devices which were awful, but I was very positively surprised.
  - gumby 5y ago
    There is a company that does battery replacement. I think they swap yours for a reconditioned one or pair, and then service the ones you sent in.
    - beezischillin 5y ago
      That's pretty cool, sadly I'm in Eastern Europe so that's no option for me but it sounds so cool when you have the option!

gumby 5y ago

I am quite astonished as I have the opposite experience. My Airpods only go flat during long phone calls of more than two hours and I had them for at least a year before the Covid lockdown. You have a larger n than I do, but still I am surprised that they would wipe out after a year.

elektrons 5y ago
Same for me. My AirPods gen 1 are still going strong. I use them about 4-5 hours every day monday-Friday.
bussierem 5y ago
I'll add one to that n: I have a pair of airpods I got with my new job. Within a year they lasted less than 2h and never even at the start lasted longer than 3h. When playing D&D with friends I had to use one at a time and rotate them out to last the whole session. Are they small? Yes. I don't expect INCREDIBLE battery out of them. But my wife has a pair of Bose equivalent and they last like 6h a day on a single charge and continue to do so 3 years later. They are slightly larger which accounts for longer initial charge but the degredation on my airpods was stunningly bad. I ended up having to replace them this year (1.5y later) for a new set because they were no longer capable of supporting my work meeting schedule.
beezischillin 5y ago
I didn't really use them for voice calls myself. I readily admit that I might just have been extremely unlucky, I don't know. I really didn't like having to throw headphones away just because they simply wouldn't turn on anymore so I'm just very wary of spending money on these headphones right now, especially since Sony WM-1000s are hovering at a similar price point and my experience with those has been very positive: almost 3 years in now and the pair of mk2s I have works perfectly. If the battery was replaceable, even by professionals, I'd be far more likely to consider getting a new pair just because I miss them... and really, It's kind of a shame because the form factor and general operation of AirPods is really lovely, in my opinion. I was at first ready to be disappointed because they looked very similar to the wired ones Apple used to include with their devices which were awful, but I was very positively surprised.
- gumby 5y ago
  There is a company that does battery replacement. I think they swap yours for a reconditioned one or pair, and then service the ones you sent in.
  - beezischillin 5y ago
    That's pretty cool, sadly I'm in Eastern Europe so that's no option for me but it sounds so cool when you have the option!