Systems and methods for symbol detection using sub-constellations are provided. In one aspect of the disclosure, an apparatus is provided. The apparatus comprises a processing unit configured to process received chips into received symbols for a plurality of users, a first detection unit configured to detect first components of user symbols for the plurality of users based on the received symbols and a computation unit configured to compute a portion of the received symbols due to the first components of the user symbols. The apparatus further comprises a second detection unit configured to detect second components of the user symbols based on the received symbols with the computed portion removed and a combining unit configured to detect the user symbols by combining the first components of the user symbols with the respective second components of the user symbols.