Fairphone has already confirmed a Q4 2026 release for the Fairbuds 2, but that hasn’t stopped the rumor mill from spinning—or the Fairbuds 2 leaks from, well, leaking. Dutch outlet NieuweMobiel has published images of the upcoming Fairphone Fairbuds 2, and they reveal a real departure from the rounded stemless design of the original Fairbuds. The Fairbuds 2 appear to be adopting a more familiar stem-style look instead.
The redesign doesn’t surprise me. Fairphone making its most experimental-looking gadget a normal pair of wireless earbuds is a logical move.
But what has me more curious is what’s happening on the inside. Fairphone still calls the Faibuds 2 “modular,” but the company hasn’t said which parts we’ll actually be able to replace. And that’s what worries me, because the new stems and noticeably thicker charging case have people speculating about a bigger battery—which is exactly what made the Fairbuds unique.
That leads me to wonder: what happens when the battery dies?
I’ll miss the original’s rounded shape. It stood out on a shelf full of AirPods clones, which was kind of the point. But a stem design could fit more ear shapes, which is practical. If anything, it shows that the company is getting more confident that people will buy theirs for repairability and sound, not for looking unusual. That’s a pretty fair trade.
The original Fairbuds set an unusually high bar: 7 individually replaceable parts. That’s a battery in each earbud, the battery in the case, the silicone rings, the tips, and the case’s outer shell. No proprietary tools were necessary, just a Philips screwdriver. iFixit gave the design a perfect 10/10 repairability score.
The Fairbuds 2 are reportedly staying modular. But until Fairphone spells out exactly which parts open up, “modular” can mean a lot of things. The batteries will matter because in every other pair of wireless earbuds, the battery is effectively a consumable. It will degrade, and when it does, the whole product becomes trash. Not great.
The original Fairbuds cost $165 at launch. A pair of earbuds in that price range shouldn’t become electronic waste just because two tiny batteries wore out.
Fairphone doesn’t need to reinvent the wireless earbud, but it does need to prove its trademark repairability can survive the redesign. After all, it’s what made the original Fairbuds so popular in the first place.
Suppose Fairphone ships stem-style Fairbuds 2 with swappable batteries; that’s a big win. It would mean the company can chase a more “mainstream look” without walking back what made them interesting in the first place. If that doesn’t happen, the Fairbuds 2 risk becoming a conventional pair of earbuds, albeit with Fairbud branding.
Everything here is still leaks and educated guesses, since Fairphone hasn’t confirmed specs or pricing yet. But I already know what I’m watching for when the Fairbuds 2 actually launch.
Personally, I don’t need the Fairbuds to look bonkers. But I do want them to be boringly repairable. The best thing Fairphone could do with this launch isn’t surprise people with a clever industrial design. It needs to prove that something as small and disposable as wireless earbuds doesn’t have to be disposable.