Enthusiast remade Apple Airpods wireless headphones. He added a USB-C connector to them for charging batteries from any power supply, and not just from a regular case.
Hardware prototyping consultant, engineer, and microelectronics enthusiast Ken Pillonel detailed in a video how he added wires and a USB-C connector to a set of AirPods, bypassing the need for a charging case.
iFixit gave all versions of AirPods and AirPods Pro a score of zero out of ten for repairability. These gadgets are absolutely not meant to be serviced or repaired as the internal components cannot be accessed without damaging the device. In fact, the manufacturer has made them a disposable product, especially since their batteries degrade and lose capacity over time.
The enthusiast explained that the project to add wires to AirPods is intended to raise user awareness of these maintainability issues, encouraging consumers to think more about simply buying a pair of wired headphones that don’t require consumables, rather than Apple’s wireless offering.
