Unofficial AirPods 2 Battery Replacement
I purchased AirPods 2 in May 2020, and after nearly 3 years, the earbuds became unstable, mainly showing occasional connection failures/disconnections, and the earbuds themselves weren’t very durable. To avoid affecting usage, I decided to fix this.
Option 1: Trade-in through JD and get a new pair, valued at
200+ CNY. AirPods 1 had the same trade-in value back then. Plus, AirPods 3 are still quite expensive at1K+ CNY.Option 2: Replace the battery 🔋
In the spirit of frugality, I decided to try unofficial battery replacement.
Update⚠️
After using the battery-replaced AirPods for several months, I found the battery became very unreliable, and the earbuds’ connection sensitivity decreased. So I no longer recommend this approach.
Downsides of Unofficial Repair
Before repair, you should know that once you go through unofficial repair, you can no longer use Apple’s official after-sales service or trade-in programs, except selling on second-hand platforms like Xianyu.
Process
I used a shop recommended on V2EX, link below:
【Taobao】https://m.tb.cn/h.UrtpzaT?tk=iHRSdkm6Xb2 CZ3457 「airpods换电池苹果一代蓝牙耳机充电仓维修12代无损更换电池服务」 Click the link to open directly or search directly on Taobao
Repair content: Both earbud batteries
Price: 75 CNY
I mailed the entire set including the charging case. The shop also helped clean it.
Interlude
I had repairs done twice.
- After the first repair, I found the left earbud’s microphone had issues - it would make strange noises during calls, which was scary and made me worry about explosion. After communicating with the shop, they agreed to re-repair at their expense for shipping costs.
- After receiving it the second time, I found no issues during use.
After Repair
Previous issues like battery life and unstable connections were significantly improved. I felt it could last another year or so.
Final Thoughts
- If money isn’t tight, I’d recommend against third-party repairs
- Given that this repair still required a second attempt, I’m somewhat uneasy about third-party repairs for Apple’s small precision devices. So next time I probably won’t go with repairs - this was more of an experience for me.
