By now, you probably know that batteries are consumable components that degrade over time. Even if a battery is rechargeable, it will eventually lose capacity and stop working with enough normal usage. For consumer electronics, that's a problem.

If a battery-powered device isn't designed with repair and replacement in mind, it's destined to end up in a recycling center (or worse, a landfill) sooner rather than later. While phones, tablets, and laptops are engineered to make battery replacements possible, wireless earbuds have historically been a repair disaster.