You Can Finally Replace the Batteries on These New Pixel Devices
Smartphones haven’t always been the easiest to repair, but thanks to legislation in places like the EU and states like Oregon , the situation has steadily improved in recent years. Smaller devices like smartwatches and headphones have had more trouble in this regard, but now Google is aiming to change that.
Previously, if your earbud case or smartwatch suddenly stopped charging, you had no choice but to buy a new one or take it in for repair. There was simply no easy way for companies to make batteries for these devices self-replaceable while still keeping them as thin and lightweight as consumers expected.
But Google is breaking that trend with the Pixel Buds 2a and Pixel Watch 4. Thanks to clever design, the batteries in both devices are replaceable, and the screen in the Pixel Watch is even replaceable.
Let’s start with the Pixel Buds 2a. If your case suddenly stops charging your earbuds, you have a few options. As before, if you’re under warranty, you can just send it to Google or take it to a Google store to have it fixed for free (and if you’re out of warranty, you can still do that, but you’ll have to pay). But now you can also buy replacement parts directly from Google. They’re not exactly available yet, as the earbuds are still on pre-order , and Google hasn’t said how much a replacement battery will cost (I’ll check, but I don’t expect an answer). But it’ll certainly be cheaper than buying a whole new case, and Google says it’s committed to continuing to sell replacement batteries for five years after end-of-life (whenever Google decides the device is obsolete, likely in a few years) for the Pixel Buds 2a.
The company has also gone out of its way to make replacement as easy as possible. There are small screws on the bottom of the headphone jacks that you simply unscrew and slide out the inside of the case to find the battery compartment and swap out the dead battery for a new one. My only gripe is that the screws aren’t Phillips or flat-head, but rather Torx screws, which are less common. Google will presumably sell the necessary screwdriver along with the battery repair parts, but I’ve reached out to them for details and will update this post once I hear back.
Either way, it’s definitely a step up from years past. Check out the green sticker in the photo above to see where the battery compartment actually is — you’ll just have to slide it out to complete the repair.
The same rules apply to the Pixel Watch 4 , except you can replace the screen on that device, too. You’ll also need a Torx screwdriver, but Google confirmed to me that no glue or heat is involved, and a company representative estimated that replacing the battery and screen would take about 30 to 40 minutes if you did the repair all at once.
What’s the catch? The Pixel Buds 2a don’t have replaceable batteries, but that’s still a far cry from anything we’ve seen from other major manufacturers like Apple. Google took a dig at Apple at its Made by Google event today, mostly for its competitors ‘ slow adoption of AI . But that’s what I think the Android maker can be most proud of today.