We opt for battery removal—both because it gives more room to maneuver, and because this cell will someday need replacing anyway. (Fairphone says they're engineered to last "twice as long" as the competition, but that's not really saying much.)

The teeny tiny battery pouch measures only 10×9.8×5.6 mm, and delivers 0.1 Wh (50 mAh @ 3.7 V).

That's on par with the battery cells in the AirPods Pro. The new AirPods 3 bring 0.133 Wh to the table, while the Nothing ear(1) carry a 0.11 Wh battery.

On our way to the driver (which is glued down in a super tight recess), we see the ribbon cable held captive by brackets—which in turn are secured by plastic rivets. With heavy hearts, we break out the flush cutter—it's about to get destructive in here.

While we’re no fans of glue, we're even less fond of destructive fasteners. At least glue can be reapplied!