Apple Hands Out Rare Bonuses To iPhone Designers As OpenAI's Talent Raid Intensifies
· Free Press Journal
The AI poaching scare is real. Apple is fighting back against a growing brain drain to AI rivals. The iPhone maker has awarded an unusual round of out-of-cycle bonuses to its hardware design team, a move Bloomberg reports is a direct response to aggressive recruiting from OpenAI and other AI startups building the next generation of consumer devices.
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Apple granted out-of-cycle bonuses worth several hundred thousand dollars to many members of its iPhone Product Design team, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The bonuses were issued as restricted stock units that vest over four years, meaning employees must remain at Apple to receive the full value. Most packages range from $200,000 to $400,000, though the final payout will depend on Apple's stock performance.
Apple WWDC 2026 Dates Announced: iOS 27, Siri Upgrades, AI Announcements ExpectedOpenAI poaching several employees
Apple's leadership has grown increasingly concerned about the number of engineers being poached by potential rivals. OpenAI, which has tapped former Apple design chief Jony Ive to help design a new generation of AI-centric products, has emerged as a particular threat. OpenAI's hardware division is run in part by Apple veteran Tang Tan, who previously oversaw the very iPhone product design team now receiving the bonuses. Tan's group at OpenAI has hired several dozen Apple engineers, not just those who worked on the iPhone, but also employees who helped develop the iPad, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro.
Despite the sizeable packages, Apple's retention play may struggle to match what the competition is putting on the table. Employees see the pay bumps as a direct response to a recent uptick in recruiting from startups. Still, the bonuses are a fraction of what OpenAI and others are offering, in some cases, those companies are paying individual Apple engineers roughly $1 million in stock annually to jump ship.
Apple also used a similar strategy in 2021, when it offered $180,000 bonuses to engineers in an effort to prevent poaching, an attempt that proved largely unsuccessful. Last year, during a talent war for AI researchers, Apple also increased pay for its in-house models group, as Meta was making employment offers worth more than $100 million in some cases.
OpenAI Bets Big On Hardware: Smart Speaker, Smart Glasses, & Even A Smart Lamp In The WorksOpenAI and other startups are developing families of AI devices aimed at supplanting the iPhone as consumers' primary hardware. Apple, for its part, is working to counter the shift with its own lineup of AI-driven products, including smart glasses, new AirPods, and a pendant equipped with the Siri assistant and computer-vision cameras. The talent war reflects a broader anxiety inside Cupertino, that the industry's rapid shift to AI has left Apple scrambling to hold its ground.