Gadgets

Oculus Rift Teardown—the Extended Edition

Last week we tore down the Oculus Rift and got some constructive feedback from Palmer Luckey himself—“Come on, iFixit, you can go further than that!” Welp, challenge accepted! Today we feast our eyes on the Constellation sensor, the Rift’s counterpart IR camera. Now sit back and relax, Palmer, this teardown is for you.

We stopped short in our teardown last week because we were busy making it rain teardowns. Seriously, after the iPhone SE, iPad Pro 9.7”, and the Oculus headset, we’re now ready to give the Constellation our full attention. It’s clear this camera was not meant to be opened, aside from a visible light filter that we managed to wrestle off. After some time on the struggle bus, we meet the pièce de résistance—the image sensor. Turns out it’s just a webcam with no infrared filter. And with a visible light filter added on, all it sees are the IR LED stars decorating your Oculus-equipped noggin—Stellar.

Teardown of the Oculus Rift constellation sensor
Constellation sensor layout

Oculus Constellation teardown highlights:

• The Constellation sensor uses a standard USB 3.0 connector, which means it’s swappable in the event of catastrophic failure. Although after dremeling it apart and digging to the heart of the device, good luck putting everything back together.

• The Oculus Rift is definitely one of the coolest things to ever land on our teardown table. In case you missed it, be sure to visit our full teardown to see it in all its glory.