THE AIRPODS’ BRIGHT white casing is a type of ABS, a versatile polymer found in many products in different forms. Acrylonitrile provides stability, butadiene strength, and styrene the glossy finish. The speakers use rare–earth magnets made from neodymium (yes, it’s an element, not a brand name), iron, and boron. Also glued into each bud are a tiny CPU, an audio processor, Apple’s W1 chip, and – flanking a cylindrical battery inside the “tail” – the radio aerial.
Out of warranty, Apple charges $69 to swap that Li–ion cell, which, at 93mWh, has 1 per cent of an iPhone’s capacity. With the earliest AirPods now two years old, this could mean users start to dispose of them, an environmental worry: though classed as electronic waste, they’re all too easy to chuck…
