Oculus Rift Teardown Offers Glimpse of Unique Lenses, LEDs, and More

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The folks over at iFixit have taken the shiny new Oculus Rift consumer VR headset and pulled it apart to find out exactly what’s inside. Among a look at the headset’s IR LED placement and circuit boards, we get a glimpse of unique lenses.

For those of you still waiting on an Oculus Rift to arrive in the mail, it will surely pain you to see one of the brand new headsets pulled apart. The folks at iFixit don’t mean to torment though, they just want to see what’s inside; you know… for science.

See Also: A Look Under the Hood of the Oculus Rift Revealed in New Photos

Before ripping the headset apart, the firm took a look at the placement of the headset’s IR LED array—part of Oculus’ ‘Constellation’ tracking system—which now extend to the back of the headset for 360 degree tracking.

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Photo courtesy iFixit (CC-BY-NC-SA)

Cracking the case open reveals the headset’s circuit boards and lens cups which hold the Rift’s unique lenses directly above each display, allowing the screen-lens units to move individually for a hardware IPD adjustment.

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Photo courtesy iFixit (CC-BY-NC-SA)

While the former Oculus Rift development kits shipped with simple circular aspheric lenses. For the consumer Rift, the company has described the lenses as “hybrid” which appears to describe the asymmetrical shape (on both planes) as well as Fresnel ridges. One major criticism of the lenses is the prominent light ray artifact which we noted in our Oculus Rift review.

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Photo courtesy iFixit (CC-BY-NC-SA)

Digging further into the headset, iFixit also gives us a good look at the springing mechanism that’s part of the Rift’s headstrap.

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Check out more of the nitty gritty insides of the Rift over at the full iFixi teardown.

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Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • George Vieira IV

    Good to know how repairable it will be. Sounds like any lens modification(s) might be difficult.