AirPods 3 have made it out of storage and are finally reaching buyers who have been waiting for them excitedly for days. But the excitement quickly turned into shock upon unboxing thanks to outrageously bad build quality in some cases.
There has been a slew of complaints on Chinese blogging site Weibo about rough edges, glue overflow, and shaky parts in some AirPods 3 units. The poor workmanship doesn’t affect the looks alone though, as many netizens have also reported that the AirPods scratched the ears when worn and even produced staticky audio.
Complaints mostly hover around the ‘Made in Vietnam’ AirPods 3 and notable tech blogger Technology Xiaoxin has confirmed the problem in the variant. However, another blogger and Apple accessory supplier going by the name of Kang (via Sina Technology) has emphasized that the problem isn’t limited to the Vietnamese AirPods 3 alone. Rather, it is a batch problem with both Vietnamese and Chinese variants suffering from a poor build, although the problem could be more pronounced on the Vietnamese AirPods.
Kang also believes that quality inspection is to be blamed for the issues and that those that got AirPods 3 with jagged edges and glue residue should opt for a replacement. After all, they come expensive.
It is worth mentioning here though that all of the problems were limited to the first batch alone and have seemingly been addressed with newer batches. So if you are looking to purchase the AirPods 3 at the moment, you shouldn’t have a reason to worry anymore.
Also, the bad batch seems to have only made its way into China as we are yet to come across complaints from global users. This, however, does not necessarily mean that AirPods 3 shipped outside of the country are completely safe. With their manufacturing being handled 70% approx. by China and the rest by Vietnam, there are high chances that the same batches being sold in China have also made it to other regions.
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