Your New Apple Watch and AirPods Still Fall Short on Repairability, iFixit Teardowns Reveal
If you’re hoping to replace the batteries in your Apple wearables one day, it might be a tricky fix.
Apple's latest wearable devices, the Apple Watch Series 12 and the Ultra 4, along with AirPods 5, have received low repairability scores from iFixit, an advocacy group for repairability. The iFixit team gave the devices 4 out of 10 for repairability, which they describe as "modest gains" for the Apple Watch Series 12. The Ultra 4, however, remained unchanged at 4 out of 10.
The AirPods 5 scored a mere 2 out of 10, showing little improvement from their previous iteration, which scored 0 out of 10. Despite this, iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens believes Apple is failing to comply with right-to-repair regulations in 10 US states. To repair these devices, Apple needs to provide parts, tools, and manuals like those offered to in-house repair staff.
This issue is not unique to Apple, as other wearable brands are also struggling to achieve high repairability scores. Google's Pixel Watch, however, scored impressively high at 9 out of 10 due to its repairable design. iFixit argues that smartwatches and headphones need to be designed with repairability in mind from the start to ensure optimal results.
While Apple has made strides in improving device repairability, it still falls short of meeting consumer expectations for repairability.
Written by urgent.news from CNET's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
