The solution
AirPods are only as useful as their charging case, and when a case dies, Apple's answer is a new one. iFixit scores the AirPods Pro zero for repairability: 'non-modular, glued-together design and lack of replacement parts makes repair both impractical and uneconomical.' Ken Pillonel — engineer behind a USB-C iPhone and a Lightning Android — spent months on the opposite answer, and in February 2023 Ars Technica covered the result: a replacement PCB and 3D-printed shell that make the case serviceable.
The system has two parts. The shell is open-source: Pillonel published the model on GitHub because the factory case cannot be opened without breaking it. The electronics are sold: a custom USB-C Flex board at CHF34.90 (about $38) replaces the Lightning port, and with a new battery fitted the case lives again — now with the connector the EU is mandating anyway. Pillonel also sells pre-modded first-generation cases at CHF299, warning of cosmetic defects 'due to the difficulty of the modding'; parts ship from end of April 2023, and using them voids Apple's warranty.
What it achieved
Don't open the sealed case — redesign what's inside it: a replacement PCB turns battery swaps into a normal electronics repair and adds USB-C while it's open.
Why it worked
The insight is to stop fighting the sealed enclosure and replace the internals instead, converting an unopenable consumer product into a standard board-level repair.
Open-sourcing the shell and selling only the custom PCB lets anyone with a printer participate and keeps the scarce part — the reverse-engineered board — as the product.
It demonstrates the repair Apple declined to enable, at a price ($38) dwarfed by a $249 replacement.
What can be applied
Repairability is a design choice, not a physics limit: one engineer re-drawing the internals can restore what a trillion-dollar company decided against.
Aftermath
Pillonel's shop listed the USB-C Flex and pre-modded cases shipping from end of April 2023; the mod voids Apple's warranty, and Ars framed the project as the standing question of why Apple will not sell the same fix.
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