Apple Vision Pro VP Paul Meade Departs for OpenAI
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- Paul Meade, Apple's VP in charge of the Vision Pro headset, is leaving the company to join OpenAI's hardware team, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
- Apple is counting on more affordable AI-powered smart glasses — also led by Meade during development — to compete with Meta's wearables, with a launch planned for next year.
- The Vision Pro was not a commercial hit, and Apple is positioning more affordable smart glasses to compete with Meta's wearable devices.
- Bloomberg's Gurman frames the departure as fallout from John Ternus' imminent elevation to Apple CEO and a shakeup of the hardware engineering team that left some VPs feeling demoted.
- OpenAI is already collaborating with Apple's former chief design officer Jony Ive on a separate AI device that CEO Sam Altman has described as 'more peaceful and calm than an iPhone.'
- Reports from last fall suggested OpenAI was struggling to get the details right on the Ive-led AI device.
Why it matters: Apple loses the executive behind both its Vision Pro and its planned next-year AI smart glasses — the product explicitly aimed at competing with Meta — just as John Ternus prepares to take over as CEO. OpenAI's hardware team now counts two former Apple leaders, deepening its talent pipeline from Cupertino at the exact moment its Ive collaboration is reportedly still unfinished.
