New Airpods

Two years ago I replaced my Airpods with the Airpods Pro.

The upgrade was significant and necessary, as after 2-3 years, the battery of the old ones was worn out.

Some months ago (as the Airpods where nearing their 2 year anniversary), the first major issues started to come up. The right microphone wouldn’t work well, when touching the right Airpod I would hear a cracking noise, and the battery was slowly decaying.

Turns out that there’s a service program from Apple and Airpods exhibiting crackling or static sounds are eligible.

So I went into the Apple Store in Amsterdam and got a new pair!

Some notes:

• You need a genius appointment if you want help quickly
• They told me the test process would take two hours, so I got back to the office. Once I got back (15' later) they called me. They were ready
• Even though only one Airpod would malfunction, in their test, both were faulty. I don’t know if this is true, or if they simply didn’t want to give a customer one with a new battery and one with a 2 years old battery
• The actual price for 2 new Airpods is EUR 180.16. Phew!
• Now my case has an old battery. I’d love to buy the new Airpods Pro 2 case, but there is inconclusive evidence on a reddit thread about the compatibility.