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Comment by kfarr | Hacker News Reader

I don't agree at all. I love the product but I have to buy a new pair of airpods every few years very consistently. It's either battery capacity loss, or crackling audio issues, or both to the point of not being usable. The Apple Genius always comes up with a story like "well it's out of warranty and the cost of repair is about the same as just buying new ones so you make the call dear customer."

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It'll be interesting to see how the EU Battery regulation that requires user-replaceable batteries impacts this when it comes into force in 2027. [1][2]

[1] https://environment.ec.europa.eu/news/new-law-more-sustainab...

[2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/1542/oj#:~:text=Artic...

Just FYI.

I have several pair, because I thought the batteries were going too quickly.

Turns out, I should have just not left the case on the charger, all the time.

Nowadays, I just let them charge for a couple of hours, every few days, take them off the charger, and leave them in my coin tray.

I haven’t had a single battery issue, since; even on the ones I thought were “dead.”

But I think it’s a big design error, that this happens. Everything else has”smart charging.”

Cool that there's a workaround but bonkers to me that companies still don't understand that if they create something that _can_ be plugged in 24/7, there's a number of their customerbase that WILL and they should handle that usecase

When the holder is also the charger, it shouldn't even be surprising that people keep them charging 24/7. That should be accounted for in the design.

I think leaving them in the holder is OK.

It’s leaving the holder on the wireless charger, that’s the problem. The holder heats up, and I think that degrades the batteries in the buds.

> Turns out, I should have just not left the case on the charger, all the time.

I wouldn't feel too bad, because that's a design flaw.

Yep. AirPods don't need to sell you a new pair because you don't buy them, you're renting them. $249 down and 30 minutes of battery life a quarter.

This is anecdotal but I haven’t had any issues with my AirPods 2 Pro and I have been using them for three years.

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