While the alcohol helped us get one foot in the door, we caught our tweezers in the jamb. A good firm pry opens up the driver for inspection.

Sweat beads as we make an incision down this AirPod's belly using an ultrasonic scalpel knife, slicing the shell without damaging the battery underneath ... mostly.

Flex cables, antennas, and microphones are all carefully folded together like origami and cemented in place with glue. We cut away as much of the outer casing as we dare, and painstakingly scoop out the rest with a fine dental pick.

Our badges say Teardown Engineer, but today we feel more like surgeons, or paleontologists. Paleosurgeons?