Fairphone, the makers of the ultra-repairable Fairphone 5, have launched a new pair of easy-to-repair wireless earbuds. Instead of tossing away your earbuds when the batteries eventually die, Fairphone’s new Fairbuds let you replace the batteries inside the buds themselves and their charging case.
In addition to replacing the batteries, you can repair or exchange the left or right earbud, the silicone ring, earbud tips, the charging case outer shell, and the charging case core. The new buds also come with a standard two-year warranty, but you can add one extra year if you register them online.
Certainly, these objectives should be embraced by all manufacturers. I will never forget my first (and only) Apple AirPods and their batteries failing just a month past the warranty period ended. They were super expensive, and I vowed to never again pay so much money for a disposable product.
The downside though with Fairphone products is they are not the cheapest around, so many are still going to buy cheap disposal earbuds. They are very likely not as good as the top end earbuds are either, but I’d be interested to see some reviews around the sound quality.
One would have to assume these could last at least two or three times longer than any earbuds which have non-replaceable batteries (batteries are usually the component that fails). But the cost of any batteries being replaced also needs to be factored in.
I’d hope though if there is enough support and sales, that these prices could actually get cheaper over time too.