One should do a bit of research before buying any product to see if it is repairable and how easy it will be and how much it will cost them. There are tons of YouTube videos showing gadget teardowns... You can get an idea of how tough it will be and what's inside, what tools you need, etc.
Chances are though that most people buying Airpods or any device in general are not looking that far into the future. Let's face it... the average consumer already expects and knows their phone, earphones, laptop, tablet are probably going to last about as long as the software on it is able to run their latest games or YouTube videos, or keep the OS updated to take advantage of the latest features, and then they toss it.
I just made the mistake of trying to fix an aging iPod Classic. Someone gave me their old iPod Classic 30gb and I managed to get it charged and running long enough to install RockBox on it. It was functioning fine for maybe 5-10 minutes when plugged in, but would soon lose power faster than it could charge, and would turn off until charged again for a while. When unplugging it from power, it would power on for maybe 5 seconds and then turn off. So it was time to order a replacement battery from eBay for $15.
Big mistake... I should have tried to open up the damn iPod first before shelling out another $15 for a battery. I looked at all the online videos, checked 10 times and read all the precautions, used a special prying kit, etc... and I've opened up many items before. This one decided to be stubborn. Many of the plastic tabs on the front shell holding the back on ended up ripping off, despite careful prying. I guess it was just so old that the plastic started to dry up and became way too brittle to bend out of the way.
Then, once I managed to get in, I tried to remove the battery which was glued to the case. There is a tiny flat-flex behind the battery which I KNEW was there before-hand by seeing videos... and DESPITE THE FACT THAT THEY WARNED about damaging this flat-flex... guess what.... I ended up tearing it also.

It is for the "hold" button, so you can live with out it, but still!!! It was running right under the freakin' glue that was holding down the battery!!!! WHY!!!
Anyways, at that point it still worked somewhat but then I noticed the stupid button (the iPod control wheel) in the middle had slipped out from it's spot and was loose and sliding out. So I had to remove the remaining board (which has the hard drive) from the other half of the case, and when I put it all back together the iPod refused to boot off the drive! It was complaining probably because the hard drive was damaged!
So anyways it turned into a disaster of epic proportions and now to try to salvage this mess I will have to order either another mini hard drive or one of those adapters (they have SD Card or Flash Drive adapter to fit the small hard drive flat-flex cable) and sink another $20-30 into it with the hopes it will work. Mind you, I will probably have to install iTunes and try to re-install all of that stuff on the drive as well to get it working again. I'm not sure I want to.
While this iPod classic *should* have been repairable, maybe 5 years ago it may have not been as brittle, I figure it a lost cause and now have spent $15 on a Li-Ion cell I can't do anything with. No big deal but lesson to be learned is open up the device FIRST before ordering a replacement battery.
