Another top executive has left Apple under Cook's leadership. The head of Apple's UI design has joined Meta.

Apple's Shaky Winter.

Another important executive has left Tim Cook. Alan Dye, Apple's vice president and chief UI designer, has been reported to have left Apple and joined Meta.

After joining Meta, this design executive who had worked at Apple for over 10 years will lead the integration of interfaces for hardware, software, and AI, and will also head a dedicated new design studio.

Who is Dye?

It is said that the current liquid glass design of Apple products is his work. Moreover, his most core designs are the Vision Pro and visionOS, which represent the future of Apple's AI terminals.

The Definer of Apple's Aesthetics

Since taking over Apple's UI design team in 2015, Dye's name has been closely associated with many iconic products.

After Jony Ive left in 2019, he became the standard - bearer of Apple's design. His work covered the entire product line, from the Apple Watch dial to the interaction optimization of MacOS.

As the core designer of the Vision Pro and visionOS, his immersive interface is a key attempt by Apple in spatial computing. Although the device's sales are average, the design is still regarded as a model for spatial interaction in the industry.

He also led the "Liquid Glass" design of iOS 26, aiming to unify the visual style of iPhones and iPads. This is also Apple's largest - scale interface update in recent years.

After joining Meta, Dye's key task is to add AI functions to consumer devices and report to Andrew Bosworth, the chief technology officer in charge of the Reality Labs.

His team is mainly responsible for developing wearable devices, such as smart glasses and VR headsets.

At Apple, after Dye's departure, Stephen Lemay, who joined Apple in 1999, was selected to take over. This veteran who participated in the early interface development of iPhones and iPads was a core member of Dye's team.

Tim Cook spoke highly of him:

Since 1999, Steve Lemay has played a key role in every major Apple interface design. He has always set extremely high standards for excellence and embodies Apple's culture of collaboration and creation.

Design is at the core of Apple's essence. Today, we have an outstanding design team creating the most innovative product lineup in history.

This means that Lemay understands Apple's design logic and team collaboration and can lead everyone to continue innovating.

This statement not only recognizes Lemay but also aims to stabilize the team -

After all, Dye is not the first executive to leave Apple this year.

Moreover, just this week, the top - level executive in charge of AI also left.

Apple's Turmoil

In July this year, Jeff Williams, the COO once regarded as the "successor to Cook", officially announced his retirement, ending his 27 - year career at Apple.

As Cook's right - hand man, he built the world's most stable supply chain, supporting the large - scale production of iPhones and iPads; popularized the Apple Watch, led health projects, and developed functions such as heart rate monitoring and atrial fibrillation warning for the Apple Watch.

Cook said bluntly, "Without Jeff, there would be no Apple today."

His successor is Sabih Khan, a 30 - year Apple veteran, who mainly manages the supply chain and product quality.

In the more important AI field, Apple not only seems old and slow but also loses key figures, with some being forced out and others jumping ship.

If Williams retired after achieving success, John Giannandrea's departure was a bit embarrassing.

John Giannandrea, the former Google AI director who joined Apple in 2018 to manage AI, was forced out due to the slow upgrade of Siri and the lack of progress in Apple Intelligence. He will retire next spring, ending his 7 - year career at Apple.

Pang Ruoming, an alumnus of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the head of Apple's basic model team, developed the core mobile image recognition technology MobileNetV3 and led a 100 - person team to support Apple Intelligence. He was poached by Meta with 1.4 billion RMB.

Apple didn't even attempt to retain him by matching the offer.

Yilun Chen and Jian Zhang in the robotics field also defected to Tesla and Meta respectively.

However, Apple's personnel turmoil may just be the beginning.

Because the more core change still lies with CEO Tim Cook.

One More Thing

As previously reported multiple times, Tim Cook, who has led Apple for 14 years, may retire as early as next year.

The most likely successor is John Ternus, the current senior vice president of hardware engineering at Apple.

Cook was hand - picked by Steve Jobs as his successor, and he has taken Apple to new heights.

In addition to safeguarding the iPhone legacy created by Jobs, he also creatively launched the Apple Watch. Relying on supply chain capabilities and diplomatic skills, he has kept Apple, this giant ship, stable in the waves of the times.

However, he is better at maintaining the status quo than making breakthroughs.

The car - making project failed in full view, and after concentrating resources to better promote AI, the progress has been very limited.

The brain drain at Apple may just be the very beginning.

Reference Links:

[1]https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-03/apple-design-executive-alan-dye-poached-by-meta-in-major-coup

[2]https://9to5mac.com/2025/12/03/apple-design-vp-alan-dye-departing-for-meta/

This article is from the WeChat official account "QbitAI", author: Wen Le. Republished by 36Kr with permission.