First teardown shows complex insides of Apple Vision Pro

AppleInsider

The first teardown of the Apple Vision Pro has been performed, with the mixed-reality headset found to be a very complex and difficult-to-disassemble device.

A teardown of the Apple Vision Pro [iFixit]

A teardown of Apple's latest hardware release is a typical event in the launch cycle, and there's no difference for the Apple Vision Pro. Apple's mixed-reality head-mounted hardware has been systematically taken apart, giving a good look at the inside of the company's spatial computing platform.

The customary video and article from repair outfit iFixit isn't a complete examination of the Apple Vision Pro, but that is apparently still ongoing. While there isn't a "repairability" score at this time, it is certainly demonstrated that the headset is a highly sophisticated piece of equipment.

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The teardown of "Apple's most complex piece of hardware yet" started with the removal of the front glass using heat, and was taken off with minimal damage. The speaker stems were pulled off using a SIM card removal tool, and while the use of modular parts is welcomed complete with connectors on the end, the speaker units themselves were easily broken.

Apple's use of a proprietary battery cable connection makes sense to the firm since it can't easily be yanked out. However, the plug at the other end is "unforgivable" for terminating with a non-standard oversized Lightning connector.

After removing the Light Seal and its magnetic seals, a permanent seal was found wrapped in a knit fabric, which was followed by a thin stretchy sheet of plastic.

EyeSight wonkiness

The teardown did seemingly answer problems with the low resolution and dim images it displays, as brought up in some reviews. Rather than displaying one set of eyes, the EyeSight display actually shows multiple videos, with the use of widening and lenticular layers alongside OLED.

The technique was used so that different videos could be shown from different angles creating a form of stereoscopic 3D effect for observers.

Other elements explored in the teardown include the automatic interpupillary distance adjustment system, the layering of displays and hardware, and the wide array of sensors.

Praising the Vision Pro as "insanely ambitious" with some flaws, such as weight and the tethered battery, the repair team stops short of providing an actual "repairability" score, but admits "it's not great, but on the plus side, some of the connections are quite delightful." The teardown team was apparently excited with the revelation about the SIM-removal tool's use on the side arms.




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badmonk

Time to cue the right-to-repair brigade…

Personally I think the tethered battery controversy is a but overblown as it removes weight from the headset though I find it hard to believe it isn’t swappable on the fly…do any actual owners have confirmation of this?

teejay2012

After watching this video, I am going to have a recurring nightmare now, where I am an Apple tech with a Vision Pro in pieces, and I have to put it together for a deadline, and it never works. Uggggh.

NYC362

badmonk said:

Time to cue the right-to-repair brigade…

Personally I think the tethered battery controversy is a but overblown as it removes weight from the headset though I find it hard to believe it isn’t swappable on the fly…do any actual owners have confirmation of this?

The battery is not hot swappable. If you disconnect the battery, the AVP will turn off.  It is its only power supply.   You can of course, plug in another power source, into the USB-C port to use the AVP and charge up the battery. 

Xed

I'm glad I no longer choose to repair devices. That era is long gone for me and most others.

I do find the fans interesting. Surely the amount of heat the M2 and R1 generation is high enough to warrant it, especially next to your face. I wonder how much weight that ads and what versions of the chips could allow for high enough performance without needing to include fans. Maybe this was done in favor of including heavier heatsinks.

mikethemartian

badmonk said:

Time to cue the right-to-repair brigade…

Personally I think the tethered battery controversy is a but overblown as it removes weight from the headset though I find it hard to believe it isn’t swappable on the fly…do any actual owners have confirmation of this?

It is hot swappable only if you are the Flash.

Xed

mikethemartian said:

badmonk said:

Time to cue the right-to-repair brigade…

Personally I think the tethered battery controversy is a but overblown as it removes weight from the headset though I find it hard to believe it isn’t swappable on the fly…do any actual owners have confirmation of this?

It is hot swappable only if you are the Flash.

Or just plug in a USB cable to some power source and you'll be charging your battery. For me that's not an issue.

tht

Xed said:

I'm glad I no longer choose to repair devices. That era is long gone for me and most others.

I do find the fans interesting. Surely the amount of heat the M2 and R1 generation is high enough to warrant it, especially next to your face. I wonder how much weight that ads and what versions of the chips could allow for high enough performance without needing to include fans. Maybe this was done in favor of including heavier heatsinks.

It runs for about 2 hrs on a 36 WHr battery. So on average, it is using about 12 to 20 Watts depending on workflow. 

My basic rules of thumb for passive cooling and skin touch temperatures is 5 Watts for a handheld (phone) and 10 W for a tablet. 

It can burst higher, but it will draw down to power levels that don’t raise the touch temperature of the device such that it is not too uncomfortable to hold let alone burn the skin. Those 5 and 10 W is about those power levels. 

So, the VP at 15 W definitely needs those fans. It’s not the weight, it’s the performance. Given where they are with performance and what they want to do, they need to be on 2 nm before they can get rid of the fans. 

Maybe a late stage TSMC 3nm fab though. An “A18 Pro” SoC is going to be close to M2 performance. So, they can have a future Vision product using a A18 Pro, running on average about 5 and not need a fan?

Probably not. I think the fan is needed if for only to ventilate the light seal volume. A phone running at 5 W feels hot, and it probably not a good idea to have that next to your eyeballs. 

eriamjh

This tear down was incredible.  There’s so many layers of tech inside the VP, it’s no wonder this thing is $3500 and up.  

I don’t think it would have been possible without the M-series processor unless it was all crammed into a Fanny pack.  

And many have ordered it with 512GB and 1TB of storage, boosting Apple’s margins even more.  And the case is $200.   And a spare battery.  Etc.   and I would not be surprised if Apple doesn’t tell us how many they sell at the next results call.   

Xed

eriamjh said:

This tear down was incredible.  There’s so many layers of tech inside the VP, it’s no wonder this thing is $3500 and up.  

I don’t think it would have been possible without the M-series processor unless it was all crammed into a Fanny pack.  

And many have ordered it with 512GB and 1TB of storage, boosting Apple’s margins even more.  And the case is $200.   And a spare battery.  Etc.   and I would not be surprised if Apple doesn’t tell us how many they sell at the next results call.   

Yeah, none of this is possible without Apple designing their own chips. I remember when many on this forum thought Apple was foolish to purchase PA Semi (and other companies). 

I don’t think a fanny pack or any other discrete solution for processing is feasible if they want a 12ms response time. I’d love to see that halved in the next few years. Maybe by then they’ll be able to make it a fanless device, too.

danox

Xed said:

eriamjh said:

This tear down was incredible.  There’s so many layers of tech inside the VP, it’s no wonder this thing is $3500 and up.  

I don’t think it would have been possible without the M-series processor unless it was all crammed into a Fanny pack.  

And many have ordered it with 512GB and 1TB of storage, boosting Apple’s margins even more.  And the case is $200.   And a spare battery.  Etc.   and I would not be surprised if Apple doesn’t tell us how many they sell at the next results call.   

Yeah, none of this is possible without Apple designing their own chips. I remember when many on this forum thought Apple was foolish to purchase PA Semi (and other companies). 

I don’t think a fanny pack or any other discrete solution for processing is feasible if they want a 12ms response time. I’d love to see that halved in the next few years. Maybe by then they’ll be able to make it a fanless device, too.

Many right up to the intro of the M1 thought that Apple was foolish for dumping Intel and many still do, but as you say the Apple Vision would not be possible right now had Apple not taken the leap. Apple is the only company that can get to something (the dream) that is the size of a pair of glasses in the near future with full laptop functionally. In short only a vertical computer company can/will get there. 

doggone

It is always interesting to see the teardowns but I sometimes cringe that they essentially destroy a brand new piece of equipment to do it.  I would never expect to be able to repair an AVP as we can see how complex the setup is.  

I think the fans will stay even if the chipset gets smaller and cooler.  Having the device on your face for several hours will get hot by your own body temperature.  So cooling will be essential for that.

macxpress

danox said:

Xed said:

eriamjh said:

This tear down was incredible.  There’s so many layers of tech inside the VP, it’s no wonder this thing is $3500 and up.  

I don’t think it would have been possible without the M-series processor unless it was all crammed into a Fanny pack.  

And many have ordered it with 512GB and 1TB of storage, boosting Apple’s margins even more.  And the case is $200.   And a spare battery.  Etc.   and I would not be surprised if Apple doesn’t tell us how many they sell at the next results call.   

Yeah, none of this is possible without Apple designing their own chips. I remember when many on this forum thought Apple was foolish to purchase PA Semi (and other companies). 

I don’t think a fanny pack or any other discrete solution for processing is feasible if they want a 12ms response time. I’d love to see that halved in the next few years. Maybe by then they’ll be able to make it a fanless device, too.

Many right up to the intro of the M1 thought that Apple was foolish for dumping Intel and many still do, but as you say the Apple Vision would not be possible right now had Apple not taken the leap. Apple is the only company that can get to something (the dream) that is the size of a pair of glasses in the near future with full laptop functionally. In short only a vertical computer company can/will get there. 

Apple always seems to have a long term plan and some people have yet to figure this out. They're not working on the products of tomorrow right now, they've already done that and have either already released it, or a release date is imminent. Apple is working on the products for 5-10yrs out from now and it has to slowly build up its tech so that in 5-10yrs what it wants to do is possible. This is why Apple is able to keep doing these major product announcements every 5 or so years. These are things Apple has been working on for the probably the past 4-6yrs (possibly longer!) and even if the technology isn't perfect upon its initial release, it's marketable and very sellable to consumers and it'll just keep getting better and better as they improve the technology and get customer feedback. 

roake

eriamjh said:

This tear down was incredible.  There’s so many layers of tech inside the VP, it’s no wonder this thing is $3500 and up.  

I don’t think it would have been possible without the M-series processor unless it was all crammed into a Fanny pack.  

And many have ordered it with 512GB and 1TB of storage, boosting Apple’s margins even more.  And the case is $200.   And a spare battery.  Etc.   and I would not be surprised if Apple doesn’t tell us how many they sell at the next results call.   

They definitely won’t.  They stopped reporting this.  They will just say it’s successful.