Recently, as Apple’s second autumn conference was officially held, after two years, Apple’s third-generation AirPods true wireless headsets finally officially unveiled. After the release of Apple AirPods 3, 52audio reported in detail the optimization and upgrade of the appearance of this product, new function applications, etc. through multiple topics (AirPods 3 unboxing and AirPods 3 review). This time, the dismantling report is here, let us see what changes have been made to the internal structure and configuration of this product.
Apple AirPods 3 true wireless earphones, according to the official information, are equipped with Apple’s customized high-amplitude drive unit and high dynamic range amplifier, H1 chip, and skin recognition sensor. Motion acceleration, voice acceleration, and force sensors are used to provide high-quality audio effects, dynamic head tracking spatial audio, pressure control, in-ear detection and other functions. And equipped with MagSafe charging case, support magnetic wireless charging function.
52audio also teardown the Apple AirPods Max, AirPods Pro, AirPods 2, Apple AirPods, HomePod mini, 3.5mm EarPods, Lightning EarPods, wired headphones, Lightning to 3.5mm audio adapter cable and many other audio products.
01/ Apple AirPods 3 true wireless earphones unboxing
The Apple AirPods 3 packaging box still continues the minimalist style of previous generations. The overall design is very simple, and only the rendering of the appearance of the headset is shown on the front.
The back of the box shows the appearance of the MagSafe charging case, as well as part of the product design, production and Apple information.
The words “AirPods MagSafe Charging Case” are printed on the top.
The bottom label introduces part of the product’s functional parameter information, which is compatible with iOS devices, iPadOS devices, Apple Watch or Mac installed with the latest version of the software. It can be used with MagSafe and Qi certified chargers.
Commodity name: wireless earphones; model number: A2564, A2565; product name: earphone box, power bank; model number: A2566, input: 5V⎓1A, output: 5V⎓1A, manufacturer: this product is produced and distributed by Apple Supplier: Apple Computer Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., and the serial number and barcode of the product.
The contents of the box include earphones, charging cable, product manual, operation guide and warranty card.
The standard charging cable uses a USB Type-C to Lightning interface.
Apple AirPods 3 MagSafe charging case adopts a rounded square design. The front opening is designed with chamfered corners for easy opening, and there is a battery indicator in the middle.
A metal hinge is used on the back of the headset, and a pairing button is below it. The middle silk screen message is “Designed by California Apple Inc., assembled in Vietnam”.
The bottom of the charging case uses the Lightning interface for input power.
The earphone is placed vertically in the charging case, and the earphone head protrudes from the cockpit for easy removal.
The overall appearance of Apple AirPods 3 true wireless earphones.
Information printed on the inside of the charging case cover, “Model: A2566, Apple Inc., charging case, mobile power bank, made in Vietnam”; rated capacity: 345mAh/1.327Wh, input: 5V⎓1A, output: 5V⎓1A.
The charging case is the metal dome for charging the headset, located at the bottom of the charging case cockpit.
The overall appearance of Apple AirPods 3 earphones adopts a handle-shaped semi-in-ear design. The earphone handle design is shorter and the headphone head is round and full.
The appearance of the inside of Apple AirPods 3 earphones is displayed.
Due to the cancellation of the optical distance sensor, there is only a circular tuning hole inside, which is used to ensure the air circulation inside the sound cavity and enhance the bass effect.
The exterior appearance of Apple AirPods 3 earphones is displayed.
The microphone opening on the back is designed with a microphone acoustic grille that is in the same arc as the body curve to reduce the impact of wind noise.
The appearance of the top of the headset is displayed.
The oval pressure relief hole on the top is also protected by a metal mesh cover to maintain air circulation in the cavity and balance the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the earphone.
There are two metal tail plugs for charging the earphones, which are connected to the positive and negative poles in the charging case.
There is a hole in the middle of the other tail plug, which is used to pick up the voice of the call microphone.
The pressure-sensitive button on the earphone handle is set with a plane different from the curve of the body, which is convenient for blind operation.
The silkscreen information on the bottom of the headset, the right ear CMIIT ID: 2021DJ11322, model: A2565, Vietnam; the left ear CMIIT ID: 2021DJ11325, model: A2564, Vietnam.
The sound mouth of the earphone is protected by a double-layer protective net inside. The holes on the surface layer are relatively large, and the holes on the second layer are relatively fine to prevent foreign objects from entering the sound cavity. Adopting a slanted design, matching the ear curve of the body and the auricle, the sound mouth is facing the ear canal when wearing, which can better receive audio information.
After actual measurement, the total weight of Apple’s AirPods 3 true wireless headset is about 46.6g.
The MagSafe charging case weighs about 37.9g.
The weight of the two headphones is about 8.6g.
Use a portable power tester to perform a wired charging test on Apple AirPods 3 true wireless headphones, and the charging power is about 1.60W.
Use a portable power tester to perform a wireless charging test on Apple’s AirPods 3 true wireless headphones. The charging power is about 2.90W.
02/ Apple AirPods 3 true wireless earphones teardown
Through the unpacking part, we learned about the appearance design of Apple AirPods 3 in detail, and learned some of the internal structure through the opening position. Let’s enter the disassembly part to take a detailed look at the internal structure configuration information.
MagSafe charging case teardown
Pry open the headset cockpit.
The cockpit is divided into upper and lower structures, which are fixed by fitting buckles and a large amount of glue.
The charging case headphone compartment structure.
Due to the high strength of the glue, the black plastic middle frame caused by disassembly is broken.
The connection structure of the earphone cockpit is fixed by glue.
The structure after the headphone cockpit is connected.
The magnet group at the bottom of the cockpit is used to absorb the earphones and charging case cover. It is attracted by magnetic force so that it is not easy to automatically close when the cover is opened, and it is firmly fixed when the cover is closed.
The internal circuit structure of the charging case.
Take out the headset cockpit, and connect the metal dome for charging the headset to the motherboard through a cable. It can be seen that the internal space of the charging compartment is still very abundant, and this part of the remaining space is enough to increase at least double the battery capacity.
On the side of the headset cockpit structure, silk-printed two-dimensional code information.
On the other side of the headphone cockpit structure, the cable is fixed by heat-melting a plastic column.
The middle frame is fixed with glue, and the main components in the charging case are taken out.
The indicator light guide column on the charging case shell.
A large-area graphene heat dissipation sticker is also attached to the inside of the housing.
The metal decorative ring of the charging hole is filled and sealed with dust-proof and water-repellent foam glue around it. The screw hole for fixing the charging socket is also made of metal and injection molding to ensure the durability of plugging and unplugging.
Function button opening. Around it is the wireless charging coil, which is fixed with high-strength glue.
Two square magnets are fixed on the inside of the shell by glue for magnetic attraction charging function.
Magnet.
The outer side of the mating button keycap.
The inner side of the mating button keycap.
The side of the key cap is provided with a sealing rubber ring for dust and water resistance.
The main circuit in the charging case.
The components are connected by BTB connectors, and the connectors are reinforced with a lot of glue. Two types of glue are used. The surface layer is made of a bit harder material, and the inner part is filled with similar soft silicone.
The Lightning wired input interface cable is also connected to the motherboard through the BTB, reinforced with glue.
Open all BTB connectors and disassemble the main components in the charging case. Structural components are relatively complex.
The front of the cockpit structure for charging the headset.
The back of the cockpit structure for charging the headset.
The front of the Lightning charging interface circuit.
The back of the Lightning charging interface circuit.
An LED indicator is shielded by a metal cover to prevent light leakage.
The product model engraved on the female socket of the Lightning charging interface: FLK120115YPL689AJ.
Inside the Lightning interface, it is surrounded by dustproof and waterproof foam.
52audio speculates that this component is used to detect the opening and closing status of the charging case. It looks like a MEMS microphone. The component information is unknown.
The front of the bracket of the fixed component in the charging case.
The back of the bracket of the fixed component in the charging case.
The silkscreen information on the lithium battery in the charging case, battery model: A2516, rated capacity: 345mAh/1.327Wh, nominal voltage: 3.85V, charging limit voltage: 4.45V, made in China, from Huizhou Desai Battery Co., Ltd.
Silkscreen information on the back of the battery.
The front of the protective plate for the integral packaging of the lithium battery.
On the back of the protective plate integrated with the lithium battery, the positive and negative nickel sheets are spot welded on the contacts.
The front of the main board and the wireless charging receiving coil.
The back of the motherboard and the wireless charging receiver coil.
The wireless charging receiving coil is fixed on the magnetic barrier sticker.
The jog button on the motherboard is used for bluetooth pairing.
Protection device from Bourns.
Wireless charging resonant NPO capacitor.
BROADCOM 59356A2KUBG wireless charging management IC.
The circuit on the side of the main board is charging case.
The charging case circuit on the other side of the motherboard. The entire board of the charging case motherboard components of this generation are not covered with waterproof glue.
Silkscreen T5HN IC.
Silkscreen T4 IC.
Silkscreen 6Y2 IC.
The IC of silk screen E+11.
Silk screen C1 4Y6 IC.
The IC of silk screen 8K16F3.
ST STM32L496WGY6P ultra-low power Arm Cortex-M4 32-bit MCU+FPU.
ST L496WGY6P detailed information.
The IC of the silk screen 3441.
Silk screen T5LL IC.
Apple customized silk screen 343S00517 IC.
The second silk screen 3441 IC.
Silk screen 18H208 IC.
The IC of silk screen 8L11C6.
NXP 610A3B USB charging IC.
The IC of the silk screen 32An.
Apple AirPods 3 earphones teardown
Enter the earphone part and pry open the earphone cavity along the moulding line.
The internal structure of the back cavity of the earphone.
The internal structure of the front cavity of the earphone.
Take out the speaker unit in the front chamber.
Apple customized high-amplitude drive unit.
After actual measurement, the size of the dynamic driver is about 11mm.
Inside the earphone mouth.
A skin recognition sensor is fixed on the front wall.
Skin recognition sensor for in-ear detection function. Black coating, the inside of the blade is made of metal.
The MEMS microphone of LaserDiao S 300 G134 is used for adaptive equalization function to detect the audio effect of listening content.
An IC with a two-dimensional code screen printed on the cable.
Tone cavity tuning hole.
Take out the battery unit in the back cavity.
LDS laser bluetooth antenna on the back cavity wall.
Connect the cable and metal contacts of the bluetooth antenna.
The interior of the headphone cavity is disassembled, and all components are connected in series to an FPC cable, and then connected to the main board.
The female connector of the positive and negative poles of the battery is connected to the flat cable.
A lithium battery protection IC with a silk-screened QR code.
The earphone uses a steel shell button battery, model: A2647, rated capacity: 0.133Wh, rated voltage: 3.67V, from VARTA.
Tear off the external label and engrave the battery with a capacity of 0.13Wh on the cell.
Unplug the battery and cable connector.
The positive and negative poles of the battery cable.
The VARTA logo and the words “9858” are engraved on the front battery.
Comparison of the size of the steel shell button battery and the RMB coin.
Inverted phase hole structure on the cavity wall.
The LDS laser antenna is printed in the phase hole.
In the internal structure of the back cavity of the earphone, a microphone is fixed on the cavity wall by glue.
The MEMS microphone of LaserDiao S 300 G134 is used to pick up external environmental noise during voice calls.
Open the tail plug at the bottom of the earphone, and connect the charging contacts to the inside of the earphone through a cable.
A MEMS microphone is fixed with glue inside the tail plug for voice call pickup.
The call microphone is connected to the motherboard through a flat cable.
Pull out the components in the earphone handle.
Comparison of the size of the components in the earphone handle and the RMB coin.
On the front of the components inside the headphone handle, Apple H1 System in Package occupies most of the position on the right side of the motherboard.
A force sensor is attached to the side of the components inside the earphone handle.
The other side of the components inside the earphone handle.
The bottom of the components in the earphone handle is printed with a large-area LDS laser antenna.
Silk screen LY CFC KF9 IC.
Silk screen DNT IC.
Force sensor patch.
Apple H1 System in Package.
AirPods 3 headset disassembly front.
AirPods 3 earphones disassemble the back.
All components of Apple AirPods 3 true wireless earphones.
03/ Summary
Apple AirPods 3 true wireless headsets are more biased towards the AirPods Pro solution in terms of overall design. The earphone adopts a semi-in-ear design, and the earphone head is relatively thinner, which can better fit the inner auricle, and has a near-feeling comfortable wearing experience. The earphone mouthpiece has a tilted design and faces the ear canal, which can better receive the audio information output by the earphone.
Although the appearance is similar to the AirPods Pro solution, the internal structure is quite different. The internal structure of AirPods 3 is relatively streamlined, and the modularity is stronger. A lot of glue is used to fix the entire headset.
The components in the charging case are fixed on the bracket, and they are all connected to the motherboard through the BTB connector. The charging case has a built-in lithium battery with a capacity of 345mAh, from Desai battery. The wireless charging solution uses Broadcom 59356A2KUBG wireless charging management IC, and wired charging uses NXP 610A3B USB charging IC. And ST L496WGY6P ultra-low power MCU+FPU.
In the AirPods 3 earphone part, the internal components are connected in series on a cable. The interior uses Apple’s customized 11mm high-amplitude dynamic driver. Three MEMS microphones are built in a single headset for adaptive equalization, voice calls and other functions. The skin recognition sensor is located at the position of the mouthpiece and is used for ear detection. Built-in VARTA 0.133Wh steel shell button battery, using a unique connector to connect to the cable.
The internal components of the headphone handle are fixed on the motherboard, using the new Apple H1 System in Package, which has a more regular shape and a smaller volume. The force sensor is fixed on the side of the main board and adopts the form of patch, which saves more internal space. Large-area printed LDS laser antenna improves the stability of bluetooth connection.
Source: 52audio
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1 Comment
How replaceable is that battery, do we think there might be an after market replacement solution?