AirPods Pro Replacement case seems to be lower in quality

I recently lost my AirPods pro charging case and ordered a replacement from Apple and immediately noticed that the hinge/lid do not seem as solid as the original one and it even creaks, unlike the original case. I googled this and found a thread from 2019 talking about this same issue. Has me wondering if they fixed the issue and new AirPods pros have charging cases that are up to Apples typical standard. Also has me wondering if they are unloading old cases that are not up to standard as a replacement. For $100 plus I would expect that the replacement be of the same quality as the one that came with the buds.. Disappointed.