Apple's iPhone Designers Left for OpenAI. Then Apple Sued.

Business Onion · 2:58

In February 2024 Tang Tan left Apple after 24 years — he was the VP who decided what the iPhone and Apple Watch physically were. He went to Jony Ive. Two years later Apple sued the company they ended up at. The story of how Apple lost the people who build its hardware — and why, in California, that is completely legal. This video covers active litigation. Every allegation described is Apple's claim as stated in its complaint and subsequent filings; none has been proven, and no court has ruled on the merits. OpenAI denies the allegations. Numbers & sources - $6.5B io acquisition — total all-stock transaction value announced by OpenAI, May 21 2025. OpenAI already held ~23% of io, so incremental consideration was ~$5B; some outlets headline the net figure as $6.4B.