Apple fights back with big money as AI rivals circle its top talent.
The tech giant has begun issuing rare, out-of-cycle bonuses to members of its iPhone Product Design (PD) team, according to a Bloomberg report. These awards are a direct attempt to stop a talent drain toward well-funded startups like OpenAI, which are currently hunting for the same engineering minds that built Apple’s most iconic hardware.
The Cupertino-based company has granted stock bonuses ranging from $200,000 to $400,000 to many of its hardware designers, according to Bloomberg. These restricted stock units (RSUs) are designed to keep people in their seats; they vest over four years, meaning an employee has to stick around to see the full payout.
While that sounds like a massive payday, it’s actually a defensive play.
Some competitors are reportedly dangling even bigger carrots, offering Apple engineers as much as $1 million in annual stock to make the leap. “The packages could ultimately offer a bigger payoff depending on the company’s stock performance,” Bloomberg reports.
The OpenAI threat
The biggest predator in Apple’s talent pool right now appears to be OpenAI. The AI leader has been aggressive in building out its own hardware division, and it is doing so with a distinctly Apple-flavored team.
OpenAI’s hardware efforts are being led by Tang Tan, a former Apple veteran who once ran the very same iPhone product design team that Apple is now trying to protect with these bonuses. To make matters more personal for Apple, OpenAI has also teamed up with legendary former design chief Jony Ive to create a new generation of AI-centric devices.
So far, OpenAI has managed to lure away several dozen Apple employees who worked on everything from the iPad and Apple Watch to the Vision Pro.
New challengers on the horizon
It isn’t just OpenAI making Apple’s leadership nervous.
A new startup called Hark, founded by Figure AI’s Brett Adcock, has also begun picking off Apple talent. Hark recently hired Abidur Chowdhury, an industrial designer who worked on the “iPhone Air,” alongside PD engineers Jack McCambridge and Alex Gould.
These startups aren’t just looking for employees; they’re building hardware that could eventually make the iPhone obsolete. Per Bloomberg, “The industry’s rapid shift to AI caught Apple flat-footed, and engineers and designers have increasingly been on the lookout for new opportunities.”
Bloomberg reminds us that “During poaching concerns three years ago, the company handed out similar packages.” Last year, during a talent war for AI researchers, Apple also boosted pay to fight off offers from Meta, which were reportedly worth over $100 million in some cases.
As OpenAI and startups like Hark work to build AI hardware that could eventually replace the iPhone as consumers’ go-to device, Apple is pushing back with its own AI product pipeline: smart glasses, camera-equipped AirPods, and a screenless Siri pendant with computer-vision capabilities.
Read more: Apple’s all-screen iPhone plans for 2027 are hitting technical roadblocks, with leaks suggesting key features like under-display sensors may not be ready in time.
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