AirPods can be used with any other device that has Bluetooth. Your Android (technically falls under Linux) device, windows device, Linux device, chromeOS, and others.

The charging method they used was created for a different time period. During the first era of 30-pin they used it because it’s what the iPod used. During 30-pin to lightening there still wasn’t a standard. Android was starting to utilize Micro USB, but the amount of times that Micro USB just broke after a few uses was insane. A ton of devices I worked on back in the 10-13 time period with Micro USB ended up tossed because Micro USB was often attached to the board and people weren’t going to pay to have a new one attached.

Apple pushed hard into USB-C in the beginning. The MacBook Pro was the first device to basically have all USB-C ports and they got absolutely trashed for it. Heres just one of the many articles complaining about the new MBP. If you were around during the switch from 30-pin to lightening then you might also remember the PR nightmare Apple faced with people saying they were only changing the standard because of money and wanting more accessory sales. Without realizing that 30-pin broke like crazy and just sucked.

Apple listed several reasons for have a built in battery. I was a huge believer back in the day of user replaceable/swapable batteries. However over time after working on devices I’m on the side of internal batteries. The size can be slightly reduced. You gain better dust and water resistance, and quite frankly the cost to replace the battery in an iPhone for instance is almost the same as buying the battery if you wanted something OEM. I use to buy a ton of Zero Lemon 10,000maH batteries for my note phones and those batteries CONSTANTLY failed and I was buying new ones.