{"id":924641,"date":"2026-10-08T00:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T00:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/924641\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T00:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T00:30:11","slug":"your-new-apple-watch-and-airpods-still-fall-short-on-repairability-ifixit-teardowns-reveal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/924641\/","title":{"rendered":"Your New Apple Watch and AirPods Still Fall Short on Repairability, iFixit Teardowns Reveal"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re one of the lucky people who, over the past month, managed to acquire one of the latest Apple Watch models<\/a> or the AirPods 5<\/a>, there\u2019s something about your new piece of tech you should know \u2014 they\u2019re not easy to repair. <\/p>\n

That might not seem like a problem right now \u2013 they\u2019re new, after all. But over time, you might wish to swap out their batteries to prolong their lifespans. It\u2019s not impossible, but none of the wearables Apple debuted last month are a quick fix.<\/p>\n

Repairability advocacy group iFixit regularly tears down new consumer devices and assigns them a score out of 10, based on how easy they are to repair. On Tuesday, it gave the Apple Watch Series 12<\/a> and the Apple Watch Ultra 4<\/a> marks of 4 out of 10 on the repairability scale<\/a>, with the AirPods 5 gaining a score of just 2 out of 10 in a similar exercise last week.<\/p>\n

On the surface, it looks like the AirPods have come out worse in this experiment than the Apple Watches, but it really depends on perspective. Apple has actually made improvements to the AirPods since the last model, which scored 0 out of 10, so these two additional marks point to the company making moves toward increased repairability.<\/p>\n

The Apple Watch Series 12 is marginally easier to repair than its predecessor \u2013 thanks to an adhesive pull tab that releases the battery \u2013 although iFixit still describes this as \u201cmodest gains.\u201d Meanwhile, the Apple Watch Ultra 4 is no easier to repair than the three previous generations, which all also scored 4 out of 10.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cApple still hasn\u2019t fixed the biggest problem with Watch repair: battery repair,\u201d iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens said over email. \u201cYou have to slice open very stubborn adhesive and risk damaging the fragile display to get to the battery of both new Apple Watches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Furthermore, iFixit says that it believes Apple is failing to comply with right-to-repair regulations in 10 US states. In Oregon, for example, companies are required to make the same parts, tools and documentation available to repair and DIY shops as they use to fix products in-house. \u201cTo do repairs, we need parts, tools, and manuals, and Apple has never made them available for Apple Watch,\u201d says Wiens.<\/p>\n

Back in June, Wiens told me<\/a> that this was a \u201cfixable design problem\u201d with the Apple Watch. It doesn\u2019t require Apple to make any upgrades to the device \u2013 instead, it requires the company to actively aid in the growth of the wider repair ecosystem. <\/p>\n

Apple didn\u2019t comment on iFixit\u2019s findings and conclusions. Previously, a spokesperson for the company said that it meets the requirements of Minnesota\u2019s right-to-repair law specifically, and that it\u2019s the first smartphone maker to support a push for federal right-to-repair regulation.<\/p>\n

Right-to-repair regulation differs from state to state, but it\u2019s motivated by one unifying idea: making it easier and cheaper for people to have their tech repaired, usually by giving them more choice to go through the original manufacturer, a third-party repair company of their choice or doing it themselves at home.<\/p>\n

The benefit of repairability is that it extends the lifecycle of our products, reducing electronic waste and saving us from having to keep splashing out on replacement tech.<\/p>\n

How does Apple compare to the competition?<\/p>\n

In iFixit\u2019s assessment of the new Apple Watches, it concludes that the company needs to do better. It highlights Google\u2019s Pixel Watch as an alternative product that shows how repairability can be done right.<\/p>\n

I can speak to this personally, having successfully disassembled and reassembled the Pixel Watch<\/a> earlier this year. Was it tricky? Yes. Did it take twice as long as I thought it would? Again, yes. But the point is that I was able not just to remove the battery, but replace the entire screen. This is why iFixit awarded the Pixel Watch a repairability score of 9 out of 10.<\/p>\n

\"PixelAndrew Lanxon\/CNET<\/p>\n

What I learned from delving into the world of wearables repairability is that smartwatches and headphones need to be designed with repair in mind from the get-go \u2013 it can\u2019t simply be retrofitted around an existing device. It\u2019s no easy feat to guarantee repairability when you also don\u2019t want to compromise a device\u2019s durability and waterproofing. It\u2019s especially hard to do without trade-offs.<\/p>\n

The Pixel Watch might be the gold standard for repairability right now, but the industry is hardly rushing to play catch-up. Apple might be languishing near the bottom of the heap, but it\u2019s not a massive outlier.<\/p>\n

There are also benefits to the way Apple does things. By keeping certain repairs in-house, the company retains quality control over the devices it\u2019s fixing and returning to people. But giving people the power to choose how to repair tech they already own is increasingly a consumer right, and ultimately, even tech giants must comply with regulations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Apple has made great strides in recent years to make its devices more repairable (even if the iPhone 18 Pro is also pretty tricky to repair<\/a>). The company\u2019s products also tend to last a long time and have great resale value. It has a great track record of making consumer-friendly breakthroughs that make people attached to their Apple devices. But repairability is one feature the company has yet to prove it\u2019s mastered.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Katie\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKatie Collins\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPrincipal Writer\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKatie is a UK-based news reporter and features writer. Officially, she is CNET’s European correspondent, covering tech policy and Big Tech in the EU and UK. Unofficially, she serves as CNET’s Taylor Swift correspondent. You can also find her writing about tech for good, ethics and human rights, the climate crisis, robots, travel and digital culture. She was once described a “living synth” by London’s Evening Standard for having a microchip injected into her hand.
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSee full bio\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019re one of the lucky people who, over the past month, managed to acquire one of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":924642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[49,48,195,61],"class_list":["post-924641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-gadgets","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-gadgets","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=924641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/924642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=924641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=924641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=924641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}