Your AirPods Will Die Soon: The surprisingly short life of new electronic devices

[TheBlackAdder]

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Two years ago, Desmond Hughes heard so many of his favorite podcasters extolling AirPods, Apple’s tiny, futuristic $170 wireless headphones, that he decided they were worth the splurge. He quickly became a convert.

Hughes is still listening to podcasters talk about their AirPods, but now they’re complaining. The battery can no longer hold a charge, they say, rendering them functionally useless. Apple bloggers agree: “AirPods are starting to show their age for early adopters,” Zac Hall, an editor at 9to5Mac, wrote in a post in January, detailing how he frequently hears a low-battery warning in his AirPods now. Earlier this month, Apple Insider tested a pair of AirPods purchased in 2016 against a pair from 2018, and found that the older pair died after two hours and 16 minutes. “That’s less than half the stated battery life for a new pair,” the writer William Gallagher concluded.
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Kyle Wiens, the founder of iFixit, an open-source DIY repair guide, believes companies should be designing devices that allow the batteries to be swapped out, which may mean finding different battery technologies. But lithium-ion batteries will continue to dominate technology for at least another 10 years, says Sofiane Boukhalfa, a project architect at PreScouter, a technology-research firm. Advances in battery technology are notoriously slow, especially as devices, and the batteries inside them, become smaller.
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But lithium-ion batteries are different from other waste. Tossing them in the trash can create fires at waste-management facilities. And unfettered consumption has big upstream costs: The more devices with lithium-ion batteries that aren’t recycled, the more companies have to mine the finite resources that go into those batteries. Most lithium-ion batteries contain cobalt, which is often mined in terrible conditions in the developing world. (A handful of states, including Minnesota and New York, require battery manufacturers to fund recycling and collection programs, and some states prohibit the disposal of batteries in landfills, but many more states have no requirements that consumers recycle their batteries.)


Much more at the jump:

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/03/your-airpods-probably-have-terrible-battery-life/585439/

In this article, the writer interviewed a man named Hughes, who says he buys new iPhones and iPods every two years! I guess he'll start adding in AirPods to the order!

Gee, that's nice... planned obsolescence, or marketed obsolescence--bought by people who think they need better. Why would Apply be motivated to make AirPods last longer when folks like this are fueling their profit margins?



.

[Squinch]

1. Not just planned obsolescence. Planned obsolescence on a product whose replacement requires

a substance that is mined by slaves and that causes wars and atrocities.

Apple is the devil. I will never use one of their products.

This is often where those who want to justify their own consumption tend to point out that Apple is not the only company that uses cobalt. This is true, but with a little research you can avoid using products that enslave people in cobalt mines.

Even if you are so brainwashed that $170 earbuds seem necessary, they are just not worth the human cost.

[Igel]

12. The batteries have a lifetime.

They can be fully discharged only so many times before they seriously lose capacity.

They can be discharged to 50% of full charge only so many times before they seriously lose capacity.

The less the discharge "depth", the less damage each discharge-recharge cycle does. But each does damage.

Working on decreasing the charge capacity loss is a big deal, because otherwise pretty much every lithium ion rechargeable battery on the market dies after 300 or so full discharges.

I suspect that a lot of companies would prefer not having this happen; some plan on obsolescence, but for others it's a bad thing and they know it. Which is why they fund significant research to prevent it. The holder of the patents for the first mass produced 15000 full-recharge cycle lithium ion batteries will rake in the dough.

So will the first holder of sodium ion batteries that don't use the nastier components. China's working hard on sodium ion batteries; and many of their researchers started off training in US labs on the same topic among US researchers, so they jump started their science and their government's dumping in money to make it happen.

[Sgent]

16. ???

An iphone battery replacement is about $80 -- and the battery costs $40-$50 if you buy it from ebay. Assuming apple isn't buying crappy batteries, they aren't making money on this.

Also, apple will accept and recycle any ewaste -- not just apple stuff.

The batteries in the pods make up probably 80% of the pod, so I'm not sure how you would design it differently.

[Siwsan]

2. Isn't Planned Obsolescence pretty much the crux of Apple's business plan?

I've never understood the hype, or been been a fan of Apple. Their products always seemed FAR over priced, for the quality. The only reason I had an iPad was because I 'inherited' it from my late sister. It's now in a coma, full of so many of her precious photos. If we can get into it, again, I'll be transferring the photos and shelving it, ASAP. Frankly, my old $50 tablet is much more user friendly and reliable.

On the other hand, for years my brother has long been a big fan, and user, of all things Apple. Lately, he's complaining far more than he's praising and he's slowing switching.

[emulatorloo]

4. My Mac Desktop is from 2009 and runs the latest Mohave OS very well

I have a second generation iPad, first gen iPod that I still use and hold a charge no problem.

Every time Apple puts out a product, somebody writes an article about how it “doesn’t work” or “won’t last”.

That’s not the experience of most people though.

iFixit has a real hard-on for Apple right now.

PM me and tell we what your iPad is doing, maybe I can help you figure out how to revive it so you can get your sisters pictures off.

[Igel]

13. Don't think so.

My phone's doing well because I don't let it fully discharge. My battery's still doing fairly well and it's something like 4 or 5 years old.

The planned obsolescence, though, is of a different sort. They rely on improvements in technology and the buzz that new models generate so that lots of people feel the social need to have the latest and greatest.

PCs had the same problem years ago. For a while, every two years you really needed a new computer because each generation was such a big improvement. In speed, in dynamic memory size and in storage, in graphics, in connectivity. Then the technology got ahead of what people needed. It takes 0.5 seconds to boot into your software on your old computer, 0.3 on your new computer. Um, why spend $1200? You have 600 GB left on your hard drive, do you really need the latest and greatest? So PC sales crashed.

There are some people who still want the best that's out there, games and some applications that still push the limits of what's generally available, so there's some demand. But the market's thinned out a bit, Moore's law be damned.

[brooklynite]

3. Many people buy new iPhones on a two year cycle...I have since they started.

The technology curve is such that holding on to old devices means you're out of sync with the tech that others are using.

As for the earbuds, I did research and got a third part model for 1/5 the price.

[emulatorloo]

5. Yes, and others are like me, I have an iPhone 5-SE that runs the latest OS.

Unlikely to upgrade for a while.

Bargain shopper here as well. I shop for 3rd party peripherals. With my desktop and laptops, I buy ram upgrades and SSD’s from Newegg or eBay and do them myself. It’s not a big deal.

[dalton99a]

6. +1. There is a way to delay obsolescence: Don't allow automatic updates

if you're reasonably satisfied with the software

[emulatorloo]

7. Yes manually always. FWIW I usually buy "last years model" of hardware when I upgrade.

[dalton99a]

9. Great way to purchase HW. Proven and probably out of the infant mortality curve

[brooklynite]

10. Consider the following...

Your 5 SE has a pressure sensitive home button. That's a mechanical device which, over time is subject to breakage. Apple was able to develop new alternatives over time, first a fingerprint reader (which also simplified online purchases) and then simply using the camera for facial recognition. Progress moves forward.

[emulatorloo]

11. Understood. Always keeping my eyes peeled for a bargain. 5 SE does have the fingerprint

recognition. It is basically a iPhone 6 in a 5 form factor.

[djg21]

8. I just ordered AirPod2s

I got my AirPods 1s when they first launched and the battery capacity has degraded. Say what you will, but Apple Products are reliable and just work without issue. Any Li Ion battery will degrade over time. It would be nice if there was a way to have batteries in AirPods replaced, but given the miniaturization of parts in the AirPods, the cost of a repair might not be cost effective.

My iPhone X also is approaching the point in it’s life where the battery is going to need replacement soon (below 85%). Again, this is the nature of battery-powered technology. I tend to upgrade phones every other model upgrade (about 2 -2.5 years) so I’ll be do the next time Apple announces a new phone. In the meantime, I may pay the $69 to have the battery replaced.

[madville]

14. I still use my white, wired earbuds that came with the phone

Not having any battery problems yet and they sound good.

[TruckFump]

15. Ditto. EOM