Paul Meade will launch OpenAI’s hardware division, reports ‘Bloomberg’.
Paul Meade, an Apple vice president who heads the Vision Products group, is reportedly leaving the company next week for OpenAI. The top executive in charge of Apple’s Vision Pro headset and smart glasses projects will start the AI company’s hardware unit, according to Bloomberg. OpenAI has been developing AI-based devices with Jony Ive’s startup since 2025. Even though Ive’s io merged with OpenAI in a $6.5 billion deal, it remains independent.
It’s unclear how the new internal hardware department will affect OpenAI’s work with startup Ive. Bloomberg says Meade will oversee the development of a family of AI-powered devices. The information reported earlier this year that Ive’s studio was also working on a series of AI devices, including a smart speaker expected to be available sometime in 2027.
At Apple, Meade led hardware engineering for the Vision Pro headset for seven years and also led the company’s smart glasses projects. Previous reports indicated that Apple would not release its first smart glasses model until late 2027. Meade also worked on the iPad and iPhone before joining the Vision Products Group in 2017 and then overseeing the group’s hardware engineering a few years later. Fletcher Rothkopf, one of the founders of the Apple Vision Pro team, will assume many of Meade’s responsibilities.
Bloomberg claims that Meade’s departure was prompted by the impending appointment of John Ternus as Apple CEO. Ternus is currently senior vice president of hardware engineering and will succeed Tim Cook on September 1.
