Apple’s Rs 15,000 AirPods have just barely started shipping out and there are already complaints of battery drain issues with the case that comes bundled with each set.
The AirPods are wireless earphones that Apple introduced as part of its plan to unceremoniously dump the 3.5mm headphone jack. The AirPods are wireless and thus, require charging. You’re expected to simply pop them into their charging case whenever they run out of juice.
Apple promised that the AirPods would hold 4-5 hours of charge on their own and that the charging case would hold an additional 24 hours of charge.
The problem, that some users are reporting, is that the charging case is losing power even when not in use. Users are reporting overnight drops in capacity of between 15 and 50 percent even when the device is on standby and the AirPods are fully charged.
This should not happen.
Those with faulty AirPods have reported that Apple issued them replacements for free.
However, as Mac Rumours is quick to note, the underlying issue remains unaddressed. In its teardown of the AirPods, iFixit noted that the soldering on the chips wasn’t of very good quality, indicative “of poor quality control or a rushed manufacturing process”.
The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus’ so-called touch disease is also said to be a result of the shoddy soldering process employed by Apple’s suppliers.
This information doesn’t lend us any confidence with regards to the long term survivability of Apple’s AirPods.