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

Thursday March 26, 2026 4:28 pm PDT by Juli Clover

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.

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

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Top Rated Comments

WarmWinterHat

8 months ago

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: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)

willzyx

8 months ago

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: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Abazigal

8 months ago

If revamped Siri fails, they're gonna have to start giving customers RSU's to keep them from jumping ship.

Users have been free to switch at any time. The iPhone is more than any one feature thanks to the strength of its ecosystem. Siri is a bummer in its current state, but hardly the death knell you all love making it out to be.

Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)

tennisproha

8 months ago

If revamped Siri fails, they're gonna have to start giving customers RSU's to keep them from jumping ship.

Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)

CarAnalogy

8 months ago

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: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)

locovaca

8 months ago

They would’ve done cash but it would’ve required putting ads into the contacts app too

Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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

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