Bang & Olufsen’s new earbuds with ‘replaceable batteries’ don’t seem to be very repairable

Bang & Olufsen introduced its , again in November, touting amongst different issues their replaceable batteries “for sustainability” and alignment with the EU’s impending system repairability necessities. However an teardown tells a extra sophisticated story about truly changing these batteries, describing the method of simply getting the case open as “a really onerous and labor intensive job… even for a skilled technician.” And inside, the battery is affixed to different elements in ways in which require warmth to take away it, which in itself would not adjust to the EU’s upcoming guidelines. Given all of the work concerned, the earbuds scored an abysmal 1/10 on iFixit’s repairability scorecard.

Bang & Olufsen stated the earbuds’ design “permits for battery substitute by service,” which, as iFixit notes, means that this isn’t meant to be a restore you are able to do your self at dwelling. It did finally grow to be potential to take one of many earbuds aside with out damaging any of the electronics inside, however the laborious teardown calls into query how possible — and sustainable — battery substitute can be even when carried out at a B&O service middle. After opening up the case and discovering “a plastic weld mark barring entry to the battery,” iFixit’s Shahram Mokhtari notes within the video that, “at a minimal, any battery substitute service would wish to eliminate the plastic housing utterly.”

“I’d like to see B&O’s course of for altering these batteries out,” Mokhtari wrote within the weblog put up. “I’m keen to wager it’s neither low cost nor waste-free however I might like to be confirmed incorrect.” The teardown additionally revealed the Beoplay Eleven to be a “carbon copy” of the 2022 Beoplay EX internally. “Even the peel-away movie on the rear of every earbud says ‘Beoplay EX’ — not ‘Beoplay Eleven,’” Mokhtari wrote. Yikes.