Apple's Vision Pro program is losing its top engineer. Paul Meade, the vice president who has led hardware engineering for the mixed‑reality headset and Apple’s nascent smart‑glasses projects, is set to exit the company next week and join OpenAI as the head of its new hardware division, Bloomberg disclosed.
Meade’s departure arrives amid a broader shake‑up at Apple. Senior vice president of hardware engineering John Ternus is expected to replace Tim Cook as chief executive on September 1, a transition that Bloomberg suggests may have prompted Meade’s exit. With Ternus poised to take the helm, Apple’s leadership hierarchy is preparing for a new era.
Meade’s Apple tenure
Since joining Apple in 2017, Meade quickly rose through the ranks. He first worked on the iPad and iPhone before being assigned to the Vision Products Group, where he took charge of hardware engineering for the Vision Pro headset. Over seven years, he helped bring the headset from concept to market and later spearheaded Apple’s smart‑glasses initiatives, projects slated for a possible launch by the end of 2027.
Fletcher Rothkopf, a co‑founder of the Vision Pro team, will inherit many of Meade’s responsibilities, ensuring continuity as the company pushes forward with its mixed‑reality roadmap.
OpenAI’s hardware ambitions
OpenAI, known for its breakthrough language models, has been expanding into physical products. The company began collaborating with Jony Ive’s design studio in 2025, a partnership that culminated in a $6.5 billion merger while keeping Ive’s studio operationally independent. The Information previously reported that the studio is developing a series of AI‑enabled devices, including a smart speaker expected in 2027.
Meade will oversee OpenAI’s hardware unit, a team tasked with creating a family of AI‑powered devices. While the exact scope of the division remains unclear, Bloomberg notes that the move signals OpenAI’s intent to bring its AI capabilities into tangible consumer products, potentially reshaping the competitive landscape for both tech and AI firms.
Industry observers see Meade’s switch as a strategic win for OpenAI, granting the startup access to Apple‑grade hardware expertise. For Apple, the loss underscores the challenges of retaining top talent during leadership transitions, even as the company continues to invest heavily in augmented‑reality and wearable technologies.
Both companies stand at pivotal moments: Apple is gearing up for a new CEO and a delayed smart‑glasses rollout, while OpenAI is building an in‑house hardware capability that could accelerate its push beyond software‑only offerings. Meade’s next chapter will likely play a central role in shaping how AI meets hardware in the years ahead.
Cet article a été rédigé avec l'assistance de l'IA.
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