iFixIt has carried out a first detailed teardown of Apple’s new high-end headphones. The over 600 Euro headphones AirPods Max are – as was to be expected from the iPhone manufacturer – not easy to take apart.

“Adorably Confusing” AirPods Max The process of opening the AirPods Max was “slightly confused and overcomplicated”, write the repair specialists. It is a “delightfully confusing pair of headphones”. This includes that Apple once again built in a lot of glue that has to be tackled with a heat gun. Other components are modular and have an extremely large number of screws.

The total battery capacity is 664 mAh at 2, 54 watt hours and 4, 35 volts. That is more than about Bose’s NC 700 with 2, 39 watt hours. Sony’s popular WH – 1000 XM4, thanks to 4.1 watt hours, manage a longer listening time of 30 hours. Of course, a motherboard is also built in – two in each auricle to be precise.

Hardware carousel in the auricles Here there is an ARM-based microcontroller from STMicroelectronics, Apple’s H1 chip (disguised as a Bluetooth SoC), amplifier and audio codec chips from Cirrus Logic, 256 Megabytes of Flash memory from Winbond and charging electronics from TI. In addition, the AirPods Max have several sensors from STMicroelectronics and Bosch – presumably for inertia and acceleration. Power management seems to come from Apple, other power electronics from TI. The dynamic drivers are 40 mm in size. In terms of repairability, iFixIt gives the AirPods Max a point value of 6 out of a maximum 10. The structure is very complex.

There was a surprise with the bracket. There were rumors beforehand that Apple had planned to make these interchangeable. However, due to production delays, the company decided against it and only made the magnetically held ear pads variable. However, according to iFixIt, it is now apparent internally that the “headbands” can still be flexibly designed afterwards.

Easily accessible mechanics These are only through a mechanism secured, which can be removed with a paper clip or SIM card removal tool. The small hole can be accessed by removing the ear cups. This is possible despite the complex joint structure. In the bracket connector there is a small plug for the electrical connection between the two ear cups. So Apple could definitely add interchangeable headbands. In fact, there are already references to this in the second beta of iOS 14. There is a type identifier for this area. Whether Apple will implement this remains to be seen.

(bsc)