Apple Vision Pro teardown reveals how complex this headset is — I’m anxious just watching it
The Apple Vision Pro is an impressive piece of kit, and it’s pretty incredible what Apple has managed to do — even if the Persona and EyeSight features are a little creepy. But have you wondered what it took to make all that happen, and actually build a functional Vision Pro? Then iFixit’s first teardown of the headset may be pretty enlightening for you.
Needless to say, the Apple Vision Pro looks like an incredibly complicated headset. The video itself has been condensed down to a palatable 6 minutes, but it definitely does not look like an easy job. Which means any Vision Pro repairs that need doing are going to be a hassle for whichever technician is tasked with the job.
See what I mean? While the process of taking off the strap and other external components looks simple enough, the Vision Pro headset itself is complicated. Least of all because the various displays are made up of multiple different components.
Weirdly, though, you can still take off the first few layers of outer glass without affecting the performance of the headset itself — though EyeSight will look even creepier than usual.
Inside the headset, to my untrained eye, looks like a mess of cables, screws and components that I’d no doubt break just by looking at them the wrong way. It’s enough to make you wonder how Apple managed to assemble this thing in the first place, and just how easy it will be to repair things that are buried under that maze of removable parts.
And that complexity seems to be reflected in Apple’s repair pricing. Currently only two options are available: “cracked cover glass” will cost you $799 to fix and a generic “other damage” will cost you an insane $2,399. Which is just over two thirds the cost of a brand new headset. Both those repairs are $299 with Apple Care Plus, which itself is $499 for two years.
Apple may make the Vision Pro eligible for sel- service repair in the near future, but I know I wouldn’t want to be the one to have to do that fix.
So if you have a Vision Pro, be sure to take care of the thing. Don’t go around using it in ridiculous places, be it crossing the street or behind the wheel of a vehicle.
