Apple announced its AirPods 4 and AirPods Max with USB-C last month and the team over at iFixt has now shared their teardowns.
Long story short, neither of the new AirPods offers improvements in terms of repairability. The small AirPods 4 require a specialized jig holder that keeps them in place while a heat gun helps loosen the adhesive to open up the top half of the buds.
We can then see the speaker and battery components surrounded by heaps of glue.
Opening up the bottom of the stem is a lot more challenging and requires a knife to cut through the stem. The only difference between the AirPods 4 and the AirPods 4 with ANC is the larger internal microphone.
The charging case is also stubborn to open and requires plenty of heat and prying before you can get to the components inside. The 345mAh battery inside the case is also really tricky to get out as it does not come with pull-tabs. All of these factors leave the AirPods 4 with a provisional repairability score of 0 out of 10.
Repairs on the new AirPods Max with USB-C are a lot more manageable but they still require lots of heat and prying out components with a steady hand. Once inside the key components are just about identical to the first-gen AirPods Max with slightly more glue to hold down the components and a USB-C charging port in place of the Lighting connector.
The AirPods Max with USB-C got a provisional repairability score of 6 out of 10.