iFixit teardown destroys AirPods 4

iFixit performed teardowns on the new AirPods 4 and AirPods Max with USB-C on Wednesday, issuing repairability scores of 0 out of 10 for the tricky earbuds and 6 out of 10 for nearly unchanged headphones — and utterly destroying AirPods 4 in the process.

“AirPods have historically been a nightmare to take apart, consistently earning 0 out of 10 on our repairability scale, but their bigger and more expensive sibling the AirPods Max are bordering on repairable with the first version earning a 6 our of 10, thanks to a relatively easy disassembly process,” iFixit said.

iFixit teardown finds you won’t be repairing your own AirPods 4 anytime soon

The iFixit teardown video, below, demonstrates how difficult it is to work with AirPods 4. Apple’s gradual improvement on repairability in some products is not apparent at all with its popular earbuds. Apple sold an estimated 75 million pairs of AirPods in 2023, according to Statista, down from a peak of 114 million in 2020. That’s a lot of tiny earbuds that are practically impossible to repair, even by experts like the folks at iFixit.

The iFixit guy doing the AirPods 4 teardown became agitated at every turn, facing excessive adhesive and parts that wouldn’t budge in both the buds and the case, despite ample heating and prying with sharp tools.

“This just isn’t fun anymore,” he said, struggling to get the guts, including the battery, out of the charging case. Too much glue in there. “It’s been an absolute ordeal to get this far, and I’ve destroyed the entire device to do it.”

As for the “new” AirPods Max, they get the same score the original Lighting version of the headphones got — 6 out of 10. That’s because there’s virtually no difference between the two sets of cans other than the connector, now USB-C.