David called Meta Quest 3 “better than its predecessors in almost every way”. in our full the verge Review – But what is it like inside? iFixit now has the answer in a great teardown video very close For the delightfully shiny guts of a gadget.
You won’t find curved batteries like these here “Largely Unfixable” Quest Pro, but you get a curved heatsink above the fan – and, of course, the time of flight depth sensor that the Quest Pro has apparently decided to scrap. iFixit’s Shahram Mokhtari says it can also be connected to the Quest Pro’s board, though it’s unclear whether you can get it to work there.
We also take a look at the pancake lenses, an 820x microscope-enhanced look at the diagonal LCD lines beneath them (which can cause some unfortunate tearing), as well as a total of fifty (50!) screws you’ll need to remove to replace them. . Battery.
Speaking of that battery, it’s now 19.44 watt-hours, up from 14.3 watt-hours in the Quest 2, which suggests the Meta is indeed, In fact putting pressure on to perform Out of its new Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chip Instead of better battery life. (Meta says that despite the larger battery pack, the Quest 3’s battery life is about the same as the Quest 2’s.)
iFixit has also dismantled the Quest 3’s new controllers, revealing a cluster of (seven?) IR LEDs that let the headset’s cameras track their movements in 3D space. While the controllers for the Oculus Touch, Quest, and Quest 2 originally had those LEDs in a raised ring and the Quest Pro has cameras in the controllers themselves, Meta now apparently believes it’s going to replace the controllers with a simpler LED setup. Can track quite well.
while the controller to do Magnetic Hall effects are triggered, they do No I have drift-resistant Hall Effect joysticks, I’m afraid:
The controllers are easier to break down than the Quest Pro, with simpler boards and disassembly steps, but you still have to remove the glued-on top. Mokhtari also tore the thin plastic of the eye relief when removing it from the Quest 3, but this may not be a problem going forward – tearing it off might help show you where the plastic snaps are located, so you can be careful. Can see from.
Overall, iFixit says the design is “a significant improvement over the Quest Pro when it comes to repairs” but gives it a four out of 10 due to the complex layers of components and how long it takes to access the battery. Get repair score.