Apple Vision Pro teardown shows how the Eyesight feature displays the wearer’s eyes

Apple Vision Pro – the company’s advanced ‘spatial computer’ that went on sale in the US last week – is equipped with an advanced Eyesight display that uses multiple videos of the wearer’s eyes simultaneously, revealed by a teardown of the headset . The headset’s glass shell consists of three layers that allow the headset to show a 3D version of the wearer’s eyes with a stereoscopic effect. The teardown also explains why the iSight appears dim compared to the video showing Apple’s headset.

In a detailed post exploring the components inside the Apple Vision Pro, iFixit shows that the front of the headset, which resembles a pair of ski goggles, is equipped with three layers. This means that in addition to the OLED screen on the front, the Vision Pro is equipped with a lenticular layer and a broadening layer, and the combination of these three creates a 3D version of the wearer’s eyes.

There are two layers on top of the OLED display on the Apple Vision Pro
Photo Credit: iFixit

To achieve a stereoscopic effect for a 3D image of a person’s eyes, Apple has equipped the Vision Pro with a lenticular lens on top of the OLED display, which is designed to show different images from different angles. iFixit says the Vision Pro can generate a “3D face through a stereoscopic effect” by using facial images that are cropped, projected and displayed from small angles serving the left and right eyes.

The firm explains that as a result of displaying both images on the same display, they have to be shown at a lower resolution which leads to blurry results. Meanwhile, the second lens on top of the Apple Vision Pro expands the 3D view of the other lenticular layer so that the eyes don’t appear too close to the wearer’s nose.

The combination of these layers reduces visibility to the wearer’s eyes through the EyeSight feature, and also reduces viewing angles. iFixit also shared a video that shows the OLED display beneath two layers, with some artifacts appearing on the left and right edges of the screen – these are only visible when the other layers are removed. You can read more about the external displays on the Vision Pro via the teardown post linked above.