iFixit pulls the Vision Pro apart, exposing its connectors, screens, and fans

We’ve already found out a few hidden tidbits of Apple’s Vision Pro over the last week, like the revelation that it has not one, but two different kinds of Lightning-esque connectors. But now you can see so much more in iFixit’s first teardown video, offering some answers to questions like what contributes to its weight, and which parts could be very expensive to replace.

Disconnecting those Buff Lightning connectors for the battery cable and strap arms is pretty easy, requiring only a SIM eject tool. After that, the disassembly is pretty standard for Apple hardware: heat gun, prying, screws everywhere, brackets, and connectors.

iFixit’s blog complementing the video comes with a deep breakdown of EyeSight, which it says isn’t a single video feed, but “a bunch of videos of your eyes.” It starts with the OLED panel displaying “multiple face images” that get divvied up, and passed through a lenticular layer — that goes through another “similarly lenticular” layer to widen the image to fit the whole area, and then through a secondary lens, as two images that are slightly different, giving your eyes a 3D effect.

All of these together result in the blurry, dim image that many reviewers have complained makes it hard to actually see the eyes on the Vision Pro’s external display.

In a tweet from iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens, you can see what the Vision Pro and that screen look like without the outer layers, the removal of which also exposes the cameras and sensors mounted around the outside. The video is in and out pretty quickly. But there’s more to come — iFixit says the headset is too complicated for one video, and promises a later one showing “just how deep this rabbit hole goes.”

Update February 3rd, 2024, 7:06PM ET: Added iFixit’s X post about the teardown with a picture of the pieces spread out.

Update February 4th, 2024, 1:35PM ET: Updated with a link to and more detail from iFixit’s Vision Pro teardown blog.