Your Flashy, Expensive AirPods Will Probably Die for Good Soon

Earlier models now hold less than half the charge they're supposed to.

Apple wireless AirPods are tested during a media event at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, California on September 07, 2016.   / AFP / Josh Edelson        (Photo credit should read JOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images)
Apple wireless AirPods are tested during a media event at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, California on September 07, 2016. / AFP / Josh Edelson (Photo credit should read JOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images

Now that Apple got you and everyone you know to shell out $170 for wireless headphones, the status symbols are quickly fading from must-have to gimmick.

The battery can no longer hold a charge, say the podcasters who once extolled the Apple headphones, rendering them functionally useless.

“AirPods are starting to show their age for early adopters,” Zac Hall, an editor and Apple blogger wrote, according to The Atlantic. Hall detailed how he frequently hears a low-battery warning in his AirPods now.

Apple Insider also tested a paid of AirPods from 2016 against a 2018 version and found that the older pair died after two hours and 16 minutes. “That’s less than half the stated battery life for a new pair,” the site concluded.

On Wednesday, Apple announced it would soon release a new generation of AirPods, but did not say whether the devices would have longer lives, according to The Atlantic.

While the lithium-ion batteries that power AirPods are everywhere, they die faster than other types of batteries and can completely kick the bucket after only a couple of years because every time you charge them, they degrade a little. And then they become so damaged over time that they pose the threat of suddenly exploding or catching fire.

But don’t worry, you’ll likely lose one or both long before then.

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