Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 3 Pro Crush the AirPods Pro in Repairability
Guess only the EU can push Apple once again
Repairability is a growing concern for the average user. Enthusiasts often dish out hundreds of dollars on new tech and find them unrepairable once something breaks off or the battery dies.
Phone Repair Guru on YouTube recently compared the process of replacing the battery on Samsung’s new Galaxy Buds 3 Pro and Apple’s AirPods Pro. While both use a very similar design and internals, Apple’s approach was, to say the least, extremely unfriendly for repairing.
Apple’s AirPods Pro offer an IPX4 rating whereas the Buds 3 Pro offer IP57. Here, IP57 is a bit more protective as it provides protection against dust and water immersion up to 1m for 30 minutes. Despite this, Samsung’s Buds 3 Pro is much more repairable than Apple’s AirPods Pro, completely negating Apple’s claims:
This may not appear as a friendly contest since Apple has released its 2nd Generation AirPods Pro. However, even they suffer from more of the same problems and land another 0/10 in iFixit’s book. Adding insult to injury, their IP54 rating does not protect against water immersion.
Here’s how both devices compare in their disassembly process:
The AirPods Pro: A Gluey Mess
First things first, in order to access the battery, users need to open the AirPods through heating. Using a clamp specifically designed for AirPods, which mind you, also fits the Buds 3 Pro (we wonder why), the glue loosened and the stems came apart, to some extent. But here’s where things start to get worse.
Apple’s connectors are so tiny and hard to remove that this repair would be impossible without a special micro soldering station. Here’s our first problem, removing the Bluetooth module’s ribbon cable. The not-so-fun part is that Apple has used glue to keep the ribbon cable in place, to prevent water damage, we presume. One wrong step, and you may end up with a broken pin or cable.
After a lot of alcohol and heat, the ribbon cable finally came off. Oh don’t worry, it gets even more difficult. Apparently, the entire earpiece is engulfed in some white adhesive, again for water resistance we guess. After that is painstakingly taken off, your next job is to remove the speaker from the battery — by desoldering it.
Once the speaker and battery have been desoldered, the battery is popped out with a tweezer. It almost feels like this product wasn’t made with repairability in mind. Don’t take our word for it, iFixit gives the AirPods 2 Pro, which is supposed to be an improvement over the originals, a 0/10 in the repairability score.
“Personalized spatial audio can give you a great audio experience but can it mute the guilt of wearing unrepairable future e-waste?“
You can imagine how hard it would be to connect the new battery. The repair afterward involved soldering millimeter-wide connections, with zero margin of error, doing everything in reverse, and hoping that these AirPods just work, provided if you didn’t break any connections.
Over to You Samsung
While we don’t usually compare aesthetics, Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 3 Pro looks awfully inspired by Apple’s AirPods. Not to say that’s a bad thing, especially when they could make Apple rethink their stance on repairability.
The case was rather easy to disassemble. You’re practically a few Phillips screws away from removing the case battery and inserting a new one. The one thing that isn’t easily repairable is the Type-C port which is soldered, one point to Apple for that, but you can make do if you know how to solder.
Moving over to the Buds themselves, we hope you remember the steps involved with the AirPods Pro. Let’s compare them against the Buds 3 Pro. Using the same clamp and some heated air, the stems came off partially. The one downside is that the stems are glued together, so when reassembling, you’ll have to glue them back.
The ribbon cable clips out easily, as there is no adhesive involved. Since we’re doing a battery replacement, yes, there will be some desoldering but that’s it. You won’t need a micro soldering station and hands with 100% precision and accuracy to repair these, unlike the AirPods Pro.
On loosening up just 2 solder joints, you can pry the battery open and voilà. If you’re careful and don’t damage the protective layer on the flex cable, this repair could potentially retain Samsung’s advertised IP57 rating.
Conclusion
Samsung is not exactly renowned for its support of the Right to Repair (1) (2), but it is good to see that its actions may push Apple to do better. If the giants in our industry make devices easier to repair, this paves the way for smaller brands and promotes a repair-friendly ecosystem.
Do you believe Apple’s next-generation AirPods will improve repairability? Moreover, how long will it take until we see mobile phones with swappable batteries like in the good old days? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Phone Repair Guru – AirPods Pro, Galaxy Buds 3 Pro
