KEY FINDINGS
• The Nothing ear (1)’s partly see-through charging case brings to mind iMacs of yore. Unlike AirPods, the ear (1) buds lie flat in their charging case. We’re already peering inside for a battery and wondering if the invisible adhesive will become a nuisance.
• We remove the silicone eartips and put a bit of pressure on the ear (1) to get inside the opaque head with the help of a halberd spudger. The first thing to catch our eye is adhesive. To continue, we need to disconnect the in-ear portion from the stem, which we manage without any heating or tearing.
• The in-ear portion houses the driver assembly, while the battery stays in the outer half. Besides the driver, we find a microphone, positioned to detect in-ear noises for active noise cancelation. The driver measures 11.6mm and the voice coil is 5.7mm in diameter. The last component of the in-ear portion is the driver grille, quickly pushed aside with the help of a spudger.
• We’re keen to check out the button cell but are stopped by two cables. A soldered battery makes a repair more complex than we’d like, so we remove its plastic brace. Embedded within is the main magnet, which holds the earbud in its charging position.
• We proceed to the see-through part and are surprised to lever open the stem quickly. A little heat and prying grants access to the remaining components. Inside, we find the flex cable for gesture control, a protective cover for the board, and the board. Some gentle tweezing disconnects the flex cable as before.
• The adhesive isn’t any more troublesome in the charging case. Some heat and a slice from an opening pick grants entry. Separating the two halves of the battery housing is more of a challenge—they’re connected by clips that seem to break easily.
• Overcoming this reveals the single-cell battery inside the charging case. In each half of the housing, we find a board held in place by standard Phillips screws. The glued-in charging coil separates easily from the housing but remains soldered to the bottom board of the case. The bottom board holds the soldered USB-C charging port, the pairing button, and some more chips.
• This wasn’t exactly a piece of cake. Once inside, some critical components would be replaceable if they weren’t soldered together. There are a few repairs within reach of a determined DIYer, but you’re unlikely to reseal those see-through bits tidily.
• Repairability score: 1 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair). Repair-wise, Nothing has shot itself in the foot with its main design feature. The motherboard is modular, but the see-through construction, while visually awesome, is likely to get mucked up when gluing it back together. The few repairs that seem technically feasible are hobbled by soldered parts.