Is the cost of bonus comfort about fifty extra screws? Watch this Quest 3 teardown to find out

I think that it’s safe to say that it’s finally happening: the movement to grant people the right to repair their own tech is getting somewhere. The manufacturers of some of the best phones on the market are making progress towards that aim, but should this be the case when it comes to the best VR headsets on the market too?

I don’t know if we can say that smartphones are more sophisticated than VR headsets — or vice versa — because this isn’t just about hardware. It’s about engineering prowess, build quality and clever workarounds to massive problems, with that last bit meaning completely different challenges for each respective platform.

Well, regardless if we’re in it just for the ride or because of science — or, right to repair — watching a teardown of a brand new piece of tech is soothing in a special way. So this one by iFixit is pretty cool, because it also shows us Meta’s approach to building a headset like the Quest 3.



Teardown videos are important, because regardless of how easy the manufacturer wants to make it for you to take a piece of tech apart and tinker with it, the cold, hard truth is that if you decide to do so, the only thing that can stop you is your common sense.

So, in a way, teardown videos are keeping us safe from making extraordinarily stupid moves.

This one in particular is pretty interesting though, because... Well, saying that the Quest 3 is difficult to disassemble would be putting it lightly. iFixit’s technician had to remove about 50 — 50! — screws before he could even reach the headset’s battery.

Unfortunately, he also broke something in the process, so I hope that it is just as unimportant as it seemed.

So, what about the battery then? Well, obviously: it’s a step up from that found in the Quest 2, but the interesting part comes up when we talk about how it is positioned: close to the wearer’s face.

Sure, that last bit may make you feel a bit unsafe, but it’s actually for your own good. You see, batteries are typically the heaviest part of the setup, so positioning it as so basically means that you feel less strain while wearing the headset.

Now, is this worth having to go past fifty screws? Or is ease-of-access and right to repair more important than a bit of extra comfort? You tell us.