SYSTEM Consumer

The Virtual Reality (VR) market has raised expectations extremely high. It is already worth several billion US dollars per year and is growing rapidly, with millions of headsets due to be sold in coming years.

Three main companies lead this new market: Oculus VR, which was bought by Facebook in 2014 for $2 billion, HTC Corporation and Sony Playstation. The Oculus Rift can be used in different sectors, including gaming, entertainment, health, automotive, retail and education. It promises a very good VR experience – although not as good as the HTC Vive headset.

This is an incredible piece of mechanics, electronics and optics, with more than 634 electronic and mechanical components identified by System Plus Consulting in the headset! System Plus Consulting has done a complete teardown of the system, described in full detail in this report, including the mechanical parts, the displays and related optics as well as all the sensors, ICs and power devices. The associated manufacturing costs are also analyzed, with quite a surprising conclusion.

This system uses mainly established components, including two 1200×1080 pixel AMOLED displays manufactured by Samsung, for a total resolution of 2160×1200 pixels. They are the main parts of the system. There are also several MCUs, interface ICs, MEMS sensors and NIR LEDs. The technical choices are very different compared to the HTC Vive, for each of the mechanical, optical and electronic functions. A complete comparison of the two headsets is included in the report, highlighting the technical choices as well as the manufacturing costs, which are also very different.

Based on a complete teardown of the Oculus Rift headset, including detailed physical, technology and cost analysis, this report will provide all you need to know about the first systems supporting the virtual reality megatrend.

Overview / Introduction

• Executive Summary
• Main Chipset
• Block Diagram
• Reverse Costing Methodology

Company Profile

• Oculus VR, LLC

Physical Analysis

• Views and Dimensions of the Headset
• Headset Opening
• Fresnel Lens Details
• NIR LED Details
• Microphone Details
• Display Details
• Main Electronic Board
  • Top side – overview
  • Top side – high definition photo
  • Top side – PCB markings
  • Top side – main component markings
  • Top side – main component identification
  • Top side – other component markings
  • Top side – other component identification
  • Bottom side – high definition photo
• LED Driver Board
• NIR LED Flex Boards
• Proximity Sensor Flex

Cost Analysis

• Estimating the BOM
• PCB Cost
• BOM Cost – Main Electronic Board
• BOM Cost – NIR LED Flex Boards
• BOM Cost – Proximity Sensor Flex
• Housing Parts – Estimation
• BOM Cost – Housing
• Material Cost Breakdown by Sub-Assembly
• Material Cost Breakdown by Component Category
• Estimating Added Value (AV) cost
• Electronic Board Manufacturing Flow
• Details of the Main Electronic Board AV Cost
• Details of the System Assembly AV Cost
• Added-Value Cost Breakdown
• Manufacturing Cost Breakdown

Estimated Price Analysis

• Estimation of the Manufacturing Price

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