Apple's Head of Vision Pro and Smart Glasses Leaves for OpenAI

Paul Meade, the Apple vice president heading up hardware engineering for the Vision Pro and future smart glasses, is leaving the company to join OpenAI.



Meade will start at OpenAI's hardware unit next week to work on a new family of AI-powered devices, according to Bloomberg. The move reunites him with a growing roster of former Apple design executives. OpenAI recently acquired an AI hardware startup founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive for $6.5 billion. Meade will work alongside Ive, former iPhone product design head Tang Tan, and former industrial design chief Evans Hankey. Apple has already tried to stem the talent exodus, previously handing out six-figure retention bonuses to protect its hardware design teams from leaving for rivals.


Meade has spent more than a decade in Apple's engineering organization. After managing iPad and iPhone programs, he joined the Vision Products Group in 2017 and assumed responsibility for hardware engineering in 2019. Most recently, he oversaw the Vision Pro and was leading development of Apple's upcoming display-free smart glasses, which Bloomberg has previously reported are targeted for a 2027 launch. His organization also oversees Apple's longer-term augmented reality glasses and several other AI wearable projects. Fletcher Rothkopf, Meade's longtime deputy in charge of product design for the headset and smart glasses, is stepping in to assume many of those responsibilities.

The exit comes amid a significant internal reorganization. With John Ternus set to become Apple CEO on September 1, Johny Srouji was named Chief Hardware Officer and recently restructured the hardware engineering unit. As part of those changes, Meade and other executives who previously reported directly to the top began reporting to new vice president of hardware engineering Tom Marieb. The move effectively pushed many hardware executives down one level in the reporting structure, leaving some feeling sidelined during the transition. It is relatively rare for a vice president to leave Apple for a direct competitor, though the company did lose human interface chief Alan Dye to Meta late last year.

Losing Meade adds friction to Apple's spatial computing ambitions. The Vision Products Group previously lost its overall leader, Mike Rockwell, when he was tapped to overhaul Siri. Rockwell brought several Vision Pro executives with him, splitting the organization into separate hardware and software groups. With sluggish Vision Pro sales, Apple has shifted its focus away from enclosed headsets, shelving a cheaper model planned for 2027 in favor of lightweight smart glasses. The company is now back to the drawing board on its next enclosed headset, testing hardware that is not expected to ship until 2028 or 2029 at the earliest.