Apple has lost a veteran executive as Paul Meade, the vice president of hardware engineering for the Vision Products Group, departs for OpenAI. Meade spent over 15 years at Cupertino, starting as an iPad manager in 2010 and advancing to oversee iPhone program management before joining the Vision Products Group in 2017. He will now shift focus to AI hardware.

OpenAI, which absorbed Jony Ive’s AI startup in 2025, has built a hardware division that now attracts former Apple talent. Alongside Meade, the company welcomes Jony Ive, Tang Tan, and Evans Hankey, all former Apple alumni. Their collective experience spans design, hardware engineering, and product strategy, positioning OpenAI to accelerate its upcoming line of AI‑powered devices by the next year.

Apple’s loss adds to a wave of departures, following Ke Yang’s exit to Meta in October 2025 and Alan Dye’s move two months later. As OpenAI expands its hardware ambitions, Apple faces a talent drain that could slow its Vision Pro roadmap. The shift underscores a broader industry trend of AI firms recruiting seasoned hardware leaders for next‑generation products in the.