Less than a week since launch, Quest 3 has already gotten the full iFixit teardown treatment, showing off just how slim (and seemingly difficult to repair) the headset really is. 

iFixit’s Shahram Mokhtari pried apart Quest 3, revealing the innards of Meta’s new $500 mixed reality standalone. The short of it: it’s pretty complicated to dismantle and there aren’t any repair parts as such, getting a [4/10] repairability score in Mokhtari’s video (linked below).

Getting past the user-removable bits is simple enough. Take off the headstrap and pop out the facial interface, as anyone would do to install either aftermarket or first-party accessories. Removing the rubberized face plate, which isn’t meant to be user-removable, proved challenging though, as Mokhtari snapped an internal clip with his plastic spudger, and by the looks of it, busted the top structural bridge of the face plate too.

Image courtesy iFixit

That’s some pretty thin plastic—forgivable enough since Meta likely designed the headset to make weight savings wherever possible. Still, something to watch out for.

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While it’s a much thinner package than Quest 2—about 40% thinner when you don’t consider the facial interface—the headset’s new slim design is largely owed to its inclusion of pancake lenses. The inclusion of these new lenses, which use polarization-based reflection to fold the optic path into a small space, doesn’t impede the teardown process any more than larger Fresnel lenses might.

Here’s a 360 look at the headset under X-ray, courtesy Creative Electron, showing off just how tightly everything is sandwiched together:


Things aren’t glued down thankfully, although the headset does feature a ton of screws—more than 50 by Mokhtari’s reckoning, many of which you’ll need to contend with to get to the battery.

Screws aplenty | Image courtesy iFixit, Creative Electron

Quest 3’s battery is sandwiched between the display and mainboard; while keeping the battery close to the user’s center of gravity puts less strain on the neck, it requires you to dig deep into the headset’s guts. One big benefit: Quest 3’s battery is pretty normal, unlike Quest Pro’s unique curved, back-mounted battery.

Quest Pro battery (left) and Quest 3 battery (right) | Image courtesy iFixit

Replacing the battery is technically possible, although there aren’t any official replacement parts. Getting there is apparently a bit more complicated than replacing a battery on a modern smartphone, although thankfully you won’t need heat guns or a host of dedicated tools to do so. Still, it appears to between the difficulty of replacing the battery of Quest 2 (harder) and Quest Pro (easier).

Mokhtari’s teardown delves into more of Quest 3’s pros and cons, such as the cost saving benefits of not including eye-tracking, and providing a cheaper IR-tracked Touch Plus controller over Quest Pro’s inside-out tracked Touch Pro controller. Another curiosity: Quest 3’s depth sensor fits into the blank spot where it would have otherwise gone in Quest Pro had they not scrapped the sensor right before production.

Catch the full eight-minute video below, which critically isn’t a repair guide as such. We’re hoping to see that posted on iFixit fairly soon, so stay tuned.

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Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Sofian

    Only if you pretend the beyond doesn’t exist.
    I still think the compute unit and the battery should be around the neck or at the waist and not on our face.

    • Its still slim for a standalone headset with a hand tracking depth sensor and passthrough. The Beyond is really just a „VR display“ without inside out tracking.

      • Sofian

        This is my point, keep only what is needed on the face.

        • Andrew Jakobs

          If the rest was all wireless, I would maybe agree, but wires are just awful and that’s why the beyond is crap IMHO.

          • polysix

            lenses are crap on Beyond too, as is the face gasket which is literally a sweat collector with nowhere for it to go, also no audio!

            Give me my Quest Pro’s face touch free design any day, wireless PCVR, and NO basestations needed so can go to any room and continue PCVR (dedicated 6e router)

          • GunnyNinja

            The Rift CV1 was lightweight, and the cable was never a problem for me. We have not had anything as comfortable since. Oculus would have conquered the world if just upgrading the panels and lenses on that, instead of that Rift S crap.

          • Andross

            totally agree, I have the CV1 and I still using it. I was excited for Quest 3 because i wished for an upgrade but now i have su much doubts:
            -no oled
            -bad back tracking (archery the most problematic, but not sure about this and had to be confirmed.)
            -need tons of accessories for make it comfortable (at least resding its marketing product description.)
            -if i understood well, no direct energy supply: when you use it while in charge, the battery simoultaneusly drain and gain energy, which is the worst case possibile, bringing to a rapid destruction of the battery. the same will be with the extra battery pack that supply the first battery causing the same issue.

            I just need a new CV1 with beter FOV and less god rays, anything else.
            I need to wait an Index 2.

          • kraeuterbutter

            there is no such thing as “drain and gain energy at the same time”

            for komfort: Pico4 with some mods…
            only 290g in front, battery on the back.. balanced headset, light, slim because of pancake
            most comfortable (after modding) i have used sofar
            Quest3: battery in front.. not good
            Quest Pro: battery at the back: but HEAVY

          • Andross

            if you have a device such a phone or a razor that doesn’t work without battery and the cable connected, means that the battery is always interested in the energy supply of the device.

            I’m not saying i’m sure this is the case, but things like this exists.

          • kraeuterbutter

            if you have a glas with water, with a hole at the bottom.. the water will run out at the hole… so:
            you can add water on top: so the glas will fill up, or drain slower… but it will not fill up and drain at the same time..
            when you such current out of a battery and drain it: you can “charge” it at same time.. that means: less current is sucked out (so the battery is stressed less) or it is charged (so the battery does not know there is some think getting current, it only feels the charging)
            its a play of balance
            sorry for my bad english

          • Andross

            sorry for my late response. I understood your explanation perfectly and it could make sense, but as I said, this could not be the case with Quest 3. Like some devices with lithium ion batteries (kitchen tools, flashlights, etc) with slow charging which consumes more energy than it accumulates, it happens that if the battery is (quite) flat they don’t work even if the charging wire is connected. This is the issue i was talking about.
            I mentioned razors because it’s a common issues, In my case I had to specifically check the box for a Braun model that says that the razor can work using the energy direct from the wire while charging, and you’ll notice the difference because the speed is way more when connected, such as a laptop performance with or without the cable.
            talking about Quest instead, seems that this doesn’t happen, such as your glass with water explanation, but with current insteead of water is different: charging and draining across the same cells without a preferral path stress the battery way more, rises way more the temperature and reduce it’s life.
            i hope i’m wrong but this is a totally normal behavior with some devices as i said and if i understood well someone described the same issues with quest3. now that the q3 is out, maybe someone could clarify us more about this.
            sorry for the long post, i hope i explained myself better this time

          • GunnyNinja

            Valve is still fleecing people with the first Index. I just ordered the Quest 3. I have to see for myself. I had sworn off Oculus after they stopped IPD adjustment. Maybe now I can finally let the CV1 go. I had too much in my library with nothing else to access it. The G2 may be on the way out as well.

          • Andross

            I feel you, but just mentioning good games like “Scanner Sombra” or the little game like “Cosmic Sugar”, you maybe agree with me that particle affect are spectacular on Vr but in my opinion are so much good only on OLED. the same with experiences in space for example. What do you think about this? I only tried the Q2 and at the moment i don’t have any other VR except CV1, if you can please try one of this games and tell me what do you think about.

    • Nevets

      Definitely

    • Cl

      Only reason I can think of is that it’s cheaper this way

    • xyzs

      The compute unit inside the headset, I agree. You need close components to each others for signal latency, reliability and consumption.
      However, the battery included inside the headset (rear or even worst: front) is stupid.
      The best approach is definitely the Apple Vision, with the external battery pack.
      Plus, that allows fast swap (the tiny battery that keeps the headset on during the swap could even be integrated in the bottom of the cable).

      • Andrew Jakobs

        Hell no, I already think the battery pack for my vive wireless module is very annoying, the cable really is a hassle, and I don’t want to have to do extra things like clipping the cable to your body, as that is another extra hurdle to wear the headset. BoboVR headsets have a good system with hot swappable batteries.

        • Daca123

          Even if you get significant headset weight reduction and improved battery life? For high-end dual-chipped headsets (the standard once the Vision Pro releases) I don’t see how you can get acceptable battery life otherwise. Even the relatively low-powered Quest 3 only gets about 1.5 hrs when using passthrough.

          • Andrew Jakobs

            I now still have the HTC Vive Pro with wireless module, which is so much heavier as the Quest 3, and I personally don’t mind the weight of my current headset, its the cable/batterypack that is far more annoying. For instance the batterypack sometimes slips off my belt when I kneel or make some weird moves. The batterycable sometimes gets stuck between my body and arm when I put my arm close to my body during another frantic moment, sometimes pulling my head back down, which can be painful.

        • JakeDunnegan

          If the cable was simply along your back, to a belt with batteries distributed around the belt (instead of one big lump) – I don’t see how it would be cumbersome.

          Most people would have to go well out of their way to mess with the cable in that position.

          • Andrew Jakobs

            It’s an extra hassle to use the headset, you have to move the cable behind you, hoping it doesn’t get stuck somwhere, and you have to put on the extra belt. With a batterypack it can slip off your belt/pants (have that happen more then enough times with the battery of the wirelessmodule), same with of you put the pack into your pocket. I rather gave a slightly heavier headset with a good headstrap where the battery is incorporated/hotswappable then a freaking wire down my neck/body (And I’m talking from experience).

          • kraeuterbutter

            it may be a extra hassle..

            BUT: when working with that headset:
            do you want to have 2hours of runtime (and then need to connect your headset to a long cable for energie) AND have a heavy, uncomfortable experience with the headset the whole 2hours long

            or do you want to “hassle” for 10 Seconds at the start with an extra cable and then have 4 hours (because bigger battery possible) of usage with more comfort at your head because headset weights much less

            i would take the 10 seconds hassle for 2-4 hourse more comfort at working/playing with it

          • Andrew Jakobs

            Uhm, or you buy a bobovr headstrap with hotswappable batteries and have no cable and you can play as long as you want. Current headsets are much lighter as the Vive Pro (1), and I never think of that one as heavy (due to the well balanced headstrap).

            As I said, I’m speaking out of experience with a battery connected to a cable down my body, or haven’t you read my post where I point out multiple things that are crap.

          • kraeuterbutter

            of course i read your post…
            i have also some experience.. use VR for over 8 years now, had 11 vr-headsets so far and two light ar-sets, used headsets for up to 7hours on the row AND – since homeoffice – are also realy using them for work for hours..
            so please: also allow me to have a different opionen on that topic – based on my own expierences
            we are all different..
            i prefer to have 10seconds hassle when i then can have hours of more comfort when using it

          • kraeuterbutter

            PS.: i HAVE A bobyVR headset for my quest2..
            simply: the quest2 is much to heavy.. you can not reach realy comfort with that
            for comfort my pico4 (slightly modified by be to more halo-like style) is much supperior in comfort compared to the quest2 with the boboVR – i will also confert the quest3 – but think it is also no match to the pico4 when it comes to comfort wearing it.. over all the quest3 is of course supperior because many other features (for example the better lenses)

      • Christian Schildwaechter

        Components should be close logically, but not necessarily physically. You don’t want the camera signals to have to run through a protocol like USB, instead connect them to one of the ten CSI ports on XR2 Gen 2. But whether the connection is 20mm or 200mm doesn’t make a lot of difference for latency or energy consumption, and the physical layer of CSI allows for up to 4000mm. Internal displays are often connected with eDP (embedded DisplayPort), and with signals moving at about light speed, you won’t notice a difference between 60mm eDP length on Quest 3 vs 6000mm over DP on Index.

        Processing close to sensors with PCB connections is still preferable, as adding and shielding lots of cables adds weight and complexity. To reduce these, you’d have to again preprocess the sensor signals and send them all via a common connection/protocol like USB, adding latency. I’d still expect future HMDs to move both battery and compute away from the face, for balance and head reduction. One option is move processing to the sensors themselves. Cameras, ToF sensor and IMU already include data processors to read, translate and send sensor data via CSI to the SoC. So with improved processors them could return e.g. a 3D mesh and 6DoF world coordinates instead, significantly reducing bandwidth and latency issues, and also compute load on the SoC.

      • kraeuterbutter

        and still: the Apple Vision is said to be a not so comfortable headset…

        for me: best komfort: Pico4 lightweight at front, perfectly balanced because of battery back and light in sum

        for future: something like the Immersed Visor: less than 200g in front (including: 6dof Tracking, handtracking and Eyetracking)
        battery AND computing-Unit AND cooling in a external unit..

        make cooling better and for that 50g more hevay.. not realy a problem with an exernal unit
        need more battery power – not so a problem with an external unit
        so: i think this would be the future in 5 years.. the apple Vision is still 500g heavy also the battery is exluded

    • ViRGiN

      That’s too much of a barrier to actually start using the headset.
      Until there is a vast library of apps and games worth going through the trouble, it has to be as simple as it is.

      Plus it’s not like Beyond is the perfect headset. It doesn’t even have built in audio solution of any kind, so for me it’s instantly a no-go.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      I don’t, it should be where it is or at the back of your head in the strap. I really hate any cable going down the neck/body.

    • polysix

      battery on a cable is a terrible idea, even IF Apple don’t think so. Any wire dangling down your neck feels liks sh*t in VR, hence me never going back to cabled HMDs… Quest Pro for wireless PCVR is my thing for now, until we see what Valve gives us, but a dangling battery is a ridiculous thing in every respect (except weight saving). Nobody wants to HAVE to wear stuff with strong pockets to hold it, or waist bands to tie it to while in VR.

      Quest Pro is hands down the best all round design we’ve had so far, I’ve had 7 HMDs and this is the LEAST flawed, in terms of overall display/lenses, ergomonics/ease of use, tracking (self tracked EVERYTHING), no add-ons needed (inc charging dock) and has decent blacks (unlike typical LCD ala Q2/Quest 3), good colour and zero MURA (unlike OLED other than U-Oled in BB which has crap lenses, reliance on basestations and a horrible rubbery gasket sweat collector pressed up against your face while Q Pro floats free)

      • ViRGiN

        Don’t you think they should have included top strap?
        I didnt like qpro comfort.

  • Nevets

    Is there any repair facility if you damage or drop the headset? UK

    • ViRGiN

      How is that relevant? Nobody is really repairing anything and then send it back to you. If you have an issue, you use your warranty, and they will send you a replacement asap rather than waiting forever for diagnostics and actual repair. These units will be repaired in its own time and sold as refurbished units later.

      • dextrovix

        It’s relevant with regard to dropping the headset, which is what was asked, because warranty doesn’t cover user-inflicted damage.

        • ViRGiN

          Yeah and? Meta isn’t really offering repair services, do they? Meta really has great post warranty service.
          From quick Google, there are some 3rd party shops who claim they can repair, for example, Quest 2 cameras. Price starting from $130 for one, no shipping included.

          Assuming Meta theoretically refuses you help one day after 2 years warranty runs out, who in their right mind is going to invest so much money to repair (with who knows what quality components) a worn out headset? You repair camera, then next week audio goes out, and the tracking isn’t as good as before repair. Makes more sense to buy a second headset with fresh warranty.
          Valve index was praised to offer spare parts.. yet everyone forgot to mention they basically stopped stocking them in sufficient quantity years ago.
          Consumer electronics don’t really get repaired these days.

          • dextrovix

            I agree on the whole and it’s because it’s not in any company’s interest to prioritise design to cater for repair (and we’d probably not have such a compact Quest 3 to start with). It’s just a shame that’s all, especially as recycling e-waste still requires a lot of energy and resources to accomplish it, compared to an end-user fixing and reusing what they already have. I’d rather not have to buy another headset, but I’m sure Meta would have no problem selling another one.