Paul Meade, head of development for Vision Pro and Apple’s upcoming AI smart glasses, will leave Apple next week to join OpenAI’s hardware unit. A ten‑year veteran who shifted from iPhone and iPad teams to lead the Vision Products Group in 2017, Meade has driven wearables aimed at beating Meta’s Ray‑Ban collaboration and to define the user interface for future spatial computing.

Meade’s exit follows a broader reshuffle as John Ternus prepares to assume the CEO role and chip chief Johny Srouji moves into the newly created chief hardware officer position. The reorganization has unsettled several senior engineers, prompting moves to rivals. Notably, former design legends Jony Ive, Tang Tan and Evans Hankey have already joined OpenAI, signaling a talent drift toward AI‑focused hardware ventures and reflecting growing allure of generative‑AI hardware.

Fletcher Rothkopf, who currently leads product design for the Vision Pro and smart‑glasses program, will inherit Meade’s responsibilities. With Meade’s departure, Apple risks losing continuity on its AR roadmap just as competitors accelerate their own wearables. The company must now rely on internal talent to keep its mixed‑reality ambitions on schedule and could reshape Apple’s approach to immersive ecosystems.