Ifixit: Airpods Pro 3 are “unriderable”

Airpods have never been easy to repair – so there has been no way of opening their housing without destruction for about year and day. If you had the hope that this could change with the freshly released Airpods Pro 3, you will unfortunately be disappointed: you are still “impossible to repair”, the repair specialists from iFixit now found in your Official Teardown out of here. As usual, the new ANC plugs receive a “repairability score” of exactly 0 out of 10 possible points.

Changes in the battery

In order to be able to take a look inside the Airpods Pro 3, heat treatment is required to dissolve the glue – and a sharp knife. There is already damage to the plastic. The battery – the element that you probably want to swap most frequently – is sealed as usual and cannot be removed without violence. A 0.221 Wh battery is installed per airpod, in the charging envelope it is a single 1334 Wh cell.

In the Airpods Pro 2, two were installed here, which means that the charging capacity of the case alone has decreased. In practice, this means that the AirPods Pro 3 keeps out with ANC 8 hours themselves, but only meet 24 hours with reloading in the case – and not 30 as with the AirPods Pro 2. A battery exchanges in both the case and especially in the AirPods is considered extremely difficult and is very rarely offered in the trade – Apple itself simply exchanges the hardware, the battery goes through the Jordan.

Thin layer of foam

Internally, the positioning of the magnets was changed internally in the charging cover, of which there are less. Apple no longer installs a mechanical switch. The improved ear pads (Foam tips) contain a fairly thin layer of foam. This is intended to help improve the insulation from the outside world.

All in all, neither the Airpods themselves nor the charging shell for a simple repair are designed. Only the group itself knows why this Apple is still handle in 2025. The case is also fully glued and can only be opened with a lot of effort – it would need surgeon hands. The AirPods Pro 3 are available for 249 euros.