The Oculus Rift’s price is once again making headlines this week as a comprehensive component teardown and analysis performed by IHS revealed that the components used to build the headset are worth $200. The CV1 was initially expected to cost in the ‘ballpark’ of $350 but as we found out back in January, the headset actually launched for $600.

The IHS Teardown breaks down the estimated cost of every component found in the Oculus Rift, with direct material costs totalling $199.60 and assembly/test costs totalling $6.50 per unit. According to the teardown, the Xbox One controller and wireless adapter account for around $24 of the total per unit manufacturing cost. However, this doesn't take into account the deal Oculus made with Microsoft.

As you might imagine, the Oculus Rift’s dual OLED 1200×1080 displays are the most expensive component, totalling $69 of the overall per unit cost. However, once again, this is an estimate and doesn't take into account any deal Oculus may have made with Samsung.

This isn’t entirely unexpected, teardowns of almost any device tend to reveal a per component cost far lower than the consumer price. One thing these teardowns don’t mention though, is the cost of R&D, which we will never truly know publicly but it is safe to assume that Oculus spent a considerable amount developing the CV1.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: These teardown cost estimates don’t really paint the full picture. However, it is still an interesting look behind the curtain at what goes into the Rift and its design.

Become a Patron!