Teardown shows components and operation Magic Leap One

A teardown from iFixit shows how the Magic Leap One works. Six LEDs per eye shine light on a microdisplay, after which ‘waveguides’ reflect that light into the eye to form a 3D image that is visible to users.

In addition, there are six waveguides, to ensure that elements and images can be sharp and less sharp. That should make the image look more realistic. The image comes from a liquid crystal on silicon chip from Omnivision. That’s an OP02222, notes the iFixit teardown. That is probably an unannounced variant of the OP02220.

The teardown further reveals that there are many infrared sensors in the Magic Leap One, including an IR transmitter and receiver on the bridge of the nose, presumably for tracking. The teardown also shows that the Lightpack, the box that provides the computing power of the AR glasses, has a 36.33Wh battery on board. The cooling is from Cooler Master.

The Magic Leap One went on sale a few weeks ago. The nearly $2300 device is only available in the US and aimed at developers who want to create applications for augmented reality. At fifty degrees, the field of view is much more limited than many VR glasses. The Magic Leap One runs on LuminOS, its own operating system.