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.
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.