With completely wireless earbuds, the rule is: when the battery fails, they have to be disposed of. Not so with the Fairbuds, that allow you to replace batteries in just a few seconds. Combined with a repairable design, the earbuds should therefore have an extremely long lifetime.
Can you replace the battery at the Sonys?
Yes. I just replaced the ones in my wife’s Sony earphones by following a step by step guide on ifixit. Cost me $15 for the batteries including shipping, and they’re not even any sort of exotic type or size.
Edit: okay just read the article. Guess these are a lot more convenient to replace than the Sony ones.
That isn’t the point, the cost is.
My hot take: does it matter? How often do people actually need to replace earbud batteries? I’m guessing it’s almost never.
If you don’t have a chance, or it’s made difficult by the design, few people will do it.But if it’s easy, maybe more people will do it. Show people a better alternative and some will take it. If the path is good, more will take it. That’s how you change the world.
Every 2-3 years in my experience, I’m on my 5th or 6th wireless headset in the last decade, and most of those were replaced because the battery life went to shit. And I’ve tried multiple brands with no material differences in overall life, but I also use mine throughout the day every day and regularly wear them until I’m forced to charge them.