Apple's "courageous" decision to remove the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 was meant to result in lots of sales of wireless earphones for the company. The one problem being, Apple didn't manage to get their AirPods on sale until this week.
At a cost of $159, they certainly aren't cheap, and the biggest concern about using them is losing them. The AirPods and the charging case that accompanies them are tiny. One accessories company saw this as an opportunity and decided to fill a niche in the market by designing a safety strap to keep the (no longer wireless) AirPods safe.
With the AirPods finally on sale, although already sold out (Apple lists them as shipping in 6 weeks), the threat of losing or damaging any of the three core components became real. So what is Apple's policy and pricing on repair and replacement?
According to MacRumors, there is no AppleCare+ for AirPods, just the standard warranty of a year which covers problems such as the batteries losing capacity. However, out of warranty service for a battery repair/replacement for a single AirPod is $49. If the charging case battery needs replacing then that's also $49.
Replacing a lost or broken AirPod or charging case is more expensive. Each new AirPod will cost $69, as will a replacement charging case. If you lose more than one of the three components, you might as well spend an extra $21 and buy a brand new set of AirPods.
Considering how small the AirPods and charging case are, you can guess how much of those service charges cover the cost of the replacement components. I imagine it's a tiny percentage.