AirPods Pro case converted from Lightning to USB-C with open-source PCB

Re:AirPods Pro case converted from Lightning to USB-C with o... by jjallen on Friday February 10, 2023 @01:59AM (#34736545)

Is this really how big players killed hardware startups in Europe? Sincerely asking because I live in Europe now and don't know the background. I always wonder how much this causes EU electronics prices to be higher than the States.

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Re:AirPods Pro case converted from Lightning to USB-C with o... by vinay427 on Friday February 10, 2023 @03:18AM (#34737013)

Most of that price difference tends to be the higher (and included in the price) national VAT compared to US state/local sales taxes which aren’t typically included.

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Re:AirPods Pro case converted from Lightning to USB-C with o... by jjallen on Friday February 10, 2023 @03:23AM (#34737049)

Yup but not Switzerland, where the VAT is 7.7%. Prices are still higher there. Something like 10-20% for Apple products, which I mention because this article is about Apple products.

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Re:AirPods Pro case converted from Lightning to USB-C with o... by Swenrekcah on Friday February 10, 2023 @05:21AM (#34737843)

Prices also reflect people’s purchasing power which is rather high in Switzerland.

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Re:AirPods Pro case converted from Lightning to USB-C with o... by ajsnigrutin on Friday February 10, 2023 @07:41AM (#34738902)

Yep, also wages are higher there so there is a higher cost of running stores there. This is especially visible in stuff requiring manual work (eg. premade sandwiches in a store).

On the other hand, everyone I know from switzerland goes (usually) to germany to shop there, and our balkan "gastarbaiters" go home, and do "everything" here/there (dentist, haircuts,...).

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Re:AirPods Pro case converted from Lightning to USB-C with o... by vinay427 on Saturday February 11, 2023 @09:41AM (#34752673)

> everyone I know from switzerland goes (usually) to germany to shop there

This is common in border cities such as Basel, but seems relatively unusual in my experience for people living in Zurich, Bern, etc. It's often not worth the extra few hours of travel from these cities on top of potential customs formalities.

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Re:AirPods Pro case converted from Lightning to USB-C with o... by vinay427 on Saturday February 11, 2023 @07:02AM (#34751609)

Yes, I used to live in Switzerland so I'm aware but I seem to have interpreted your use of "EU" too literally. :)

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Re:AirPods Pro case converted from Lightning to USB-C with o... by crote on Friday February 10, 2023 @04:27AM (#34737446)

It's bullshit. Source: I'm employed by a hardware startup in Europe, specifically one selling similar types of DIY hardware.

Most of our products are kits requiring soldering, and by far the most common cause of failure is user assembly errors. We offer great support trying to assist the customer in fixing any errors, but it is still the customer's fault if they really screw it up - which rarely happens.

All non-trivial parts are 100% tested in the factory, and we explicitly instruct the customer to verify they function before installation. Defects do still happen, but are not very common. We'll just send a replacement without any fuss, because we budgeted for that.

I do not believe long-term warranty requests have ever happened at our company.

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