AirPods Pro get USB-C port in complex new mod

Michail, 08 February 2023

Back in October of 2021, Ken Pilonel made headlines by replacing the Lighting port on an iPhone X with a USB-C connector. Now the engineer has now stepped up to an even more complex mod by adding a functional USB-C port to a pair of first-gen AirPods Pro.

The process involved developing and printing a new circuit board with the USB-C connector and 3D printing a new AirPods case to fit the custom PCB.

The project involved plenty instances of trial and error, a whole new circuit board design and 3D printing. The necessary schematics are posted on GitHub so people with the right equipment can transform their AirPods with USB-C.

USB-C AirPods Pro and their custom PCB

Pilonel also plans to sell his self-developed PCB board for CHF 35 (€35/$38) and modified USB-C AirPods Pro for CHF 300 (€303/$326) from his personal website. Apple will be forced to put USB-C on all of its devices sold in the EU from December 28, 2024.

Reader comments

Stevie
10 Feb 2023
0Ua

So break a lot of stuff for something that doesn't matter enough for it to be worth it. If you have AirPods you have an iPhone so making this change on the headphones requires you to make the change on the phone otherwise you've managed t...

Narazumono
09 Feb 2023
3bm

And then Samsung will post a tweet making fun of them, saying something like "our phones come with a charging port" and then 2 months later they remove the port on their phones too and delete the tweets Fast forward and Xiaomi quickly joi...

Rosso
09 Feb 2023
g8$

This being Apple, I wouldn't be surprised if they remove charging port all together and force you to charge the phone wirelessly, which would be such an Apple move and completely against their "eco-friendly" stance, tho we all know tha...