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iFixit’s Apple Vision Pro teardown reveals the engineering within

Have a look inside the Apple Vision Pro.

iFixit tears down Apple Vision Pro
Image: iFixit

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Apple’s first mixed-reality headset, Vision Pro, recently went on sale with positive reception from the fans. It is the first new Apple product in years, after all. 

However, days after the launch, we are seeing all sorts of experts doing all kinds of experiments with the Apple Vision Pro, including drop-tests, teardown, and more. 

Of course, the “OG” experts, the folks at iFixit, won’t miss out on such an opportunity, and they didn’t. 

iFixit has conducted its own teardown of the Vision Pro headset, revealing the engineering intricacy that went into developing the Cupertino firm’s first mixed-reality headset and some downsides in terms of repairability.

Now we know how Vision Pro’s EyeSight works – courtesy of iFixit

Vision Pro tear down in process
Image: iFixit

iFixit’s Vision Pro teardown went relatively smoothly, with bits of issues here and there. 

The first hurdle of the teardown was removing the outer glass panel without damaging it, and the iFixit achieved it quite smoothly.

However, they couldn’t save the protective plastic film. It got peeled off. After that, iFixit went deeper into the Vision Pro.

iFixit also reveals the workings behind Apple’s EyeSight – a feature that has been criticized a lot, and thanks to the teardown, we know how it works. 

It seems Apple used a combination of lenticular layers to achieve it. According to iFixit, 

It turns out that when the EyeSight displays your eyes, it isn’t just displaying a single video feed of your eyes; it’s showing a bunch of videos of your eyes. Exploring inside the glass shell, we found three layers for the front-facing display: a widening layer, a lenticular layer, and the OLED display itself.

In short, the lenticular lenses show different images from various angles, which may seem unnecessary but useful in the case of the Apple Vision Pro. 

The Vision Pro has a lenticular layer on top of the exterior OLED panel. VisionOS renders multiple face images—call them A and B—slices them up, and displays A from one angle serving your left eye, and B from another serving your right eye. This creates a 3D face via the stereoscopic effect. And those angles are tiny, and they are legion, it takes a fancy Evident Scientific microscope to really see what we mean.

iFixit's lenticular explanations
Image: iFixit

Lastly, iFixit notes that Vision Pro is not great when it comes to repairability. According to them, 

Repairability-wise, it’s not great, but on the plus side, some of the connections are quite delightful. You should have seen our teardown team jump up when they realized that the side arms could be popped out using the SIM-removal tool, for example, and the magnetic cushions are yet more user-friendly.

The Vision Pro is only available in the US. If you live anywhere else in the globe, getting your hands on one will be difficult. However, Apple is likely working to make its headset’s availability wider soon

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Saurav loves writing and tech. So, after engineering, he didn't look back and embarked on a journey to become a tech writer. Saurav has worked for various tech websites across the globe. Saurav has recently joined Know Techie and is proud to be a part of it.

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