Apple Gives iPhone Designers Bonuses Up to $400K to Counter OpenAI Poaching - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple Gives iPhone Designers Bonuses Up to $400K to Counter OpenAI Poaching

by

Apple gave its iPhone Product Design team bonuses worth "several hundred thousand dollars" in an effort to keep them from being poached by other companies, reports Bloomberg. The bonuses were provided as restricted stock units (RSUs) that will vest over a four-year period.

Apple Logo Cash Feature Mint
Hardware designers given bonuses will need to stay with Apple to get the full value of the stock award, which can range from $200,000 to $400,000 or even more depending on how Apple stock does over the next several years.

Apple executives are concerned with the number of engineers the company has been losing to rivals like OpenAI. Several former Apple designers are now working on hardware products at OpenAI, including former Apple design chief Jony Ive. OpenAI has been recruiting Apple engineers that worked on the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro, and it has hired over 40 former Apple employees.

In 2021 and 2022, Apple also handed out stock bonuses to engineers in silicon design, hardware, software, and operations to thwart poaching and increase employee retention.

Tag: OpenAI

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.4 Adds Two New Features to CarPlay

Tuesday March 24, 2026 1:55 pm PDT by
iOS 26.4 was released today, and it includes a couple of new features for CarPlay: an Ambient Music widget and support for voice-based chatbot apps. To update your iPhone 11 or newer to iOS 26.4, open the Settings app and tap on General → Software Update. CarPlay will automatically offer the new features so long as the iPhone connected to your vehicle is running iOS 26.4 or later....
Read Full Article • 26 comments
Apple Business hero

Apple Unveils 'Apple Business' All-in-One Platform

Tuesday March 24, 2026 8:53 am PDT by
Apple today announced Apple Business, a new all-in-one platform that unifies device management, productivity tools, and customer outreach features. The service is designed to be a consolidated replacement for several of Apple's existing business-focused offerings, including Apple Business Essentials, Apple Business Manager, and Apple Business Connect. It provides organizations with a single...
Read Full Article • 47 comments
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Tuesday March 24, 2026 12:31 pm PDT by
Apple today released new firmware for the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and the AirPods 4. The firmware has a version number of 8B39, up from 8B34 on the AirPods Pro 3, 8B28 on the AirPods Pro 2, and 8B21 on the AirPods 4. There is no word on what's included in the firmware, but Apple has a support document with limited notes. Most updates are limited to bug fixes and performance...
Read Full Article • 88 comments

Top Rated Comments

ThomasJL Avatar
ThomasJL
1 hour ago at 04:56 pm
It shows how dull, uninspiring, and lacking in innovation Tim Cook is to have Jony Ive and other Apple employees leave Apple to go work for Scam Altman.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
W
willzyx
2 hours ago at 04:40 pm
So they got restricted stock that may be worth up to $400k one day. All OpenAI has to do is counter with $400k sign up bonus. They are burning through so much cash, I don't think they'd care.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
luccalabs Avatar
luccalabs
32 minutes ago at 05:43 pm

It would be more like a presence, something that’s always there, always listening (seeing) when you need it, but never in the way.

You wouldn’t open apps or tap through screens.

You’d just talk.
Big difference - people didn't know they wanted the iPhone. People actively don't want what you described, at least not in any sort of near term functionality, or they only want it in very niche scenarios.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WarmWinterHat Avatar
WarmWinterHat
1 hour ago at 05:13 pm

Honestly, I’m not surprised. Without a true visionary like Steve Jobs, Apple feels like it’s slowly losing its edge.

Remember when Jobs introduced the iPhone as the “iPod killer", “an iPod, a phone, and a breakthrough internet communicator”? I think something similar is coming again, but this time, it won’t be Apple leading it. What OpenAI is building, especially with someone like Jony Ive involved, has the potential to be the iPhone killer. Not just another device, but an entirely new way of interacting with technology.

It would be more like a presence, something that’s always there, always listening (seeing) when you need it, but never in the way.

You wouldn’t open apps or tap through screens.

You’d just talk.
Just talking is fine when you're by yourself. It doesn't work in an office, in the public, on a bus, in a car with others, on a plane, at the airport.. It's just a bad idea. Typing/taping is private.

The Altman/Ive misadventure is going to be a dud.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
C
CarAnalogy
1 hour ago at 05:10 pm

Honestly, I’m not surprised. Without a true visionary like Steve Jobs, Apple feels like it’s slowly losing its edge.

Remember when Jobs introduced the iPhone as the “iPod killer", “an iPod, a phone, and a breakthrough internet communicator”? I think something similar is coming again, but this time, it won’t be Apple leading it. What OpenAI is building, especially with someone like Jony Ive involved, has the potential to be the iPhone killer. Not just another device, but an entirely new way of interacting with technology.

It would be more like a presence, something that’s always there, always listening (seeing) when you need it, but never in the way.

You wouldn’t open apps or tap through screens.

You’d just talk.
Yeah, we keep describing the Enterprise Computer used through a Communicator.

But instead of teleportation and tactical analysis we’ll just get more ads.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments