July 10, 2025, Apple store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. – Sven Hoppe/dpa/picture Alliance/Getty Images
For decades, Apple has been known for a consistent line of design-forward, technology-defining consumer products that have shaped the way people use technology.
Now that the famously staid company is undergoing changes at the top, Apple and the entire tech industry are at a crossroads.
Apple announced the departure of three members of its executive team in less than a week. Meta poached a key design leader from Apple. Speculation is growing that Tim Cook may be preparing to step down as CEO.
The changes come as critics say one-time tech leader Apple is falling behind in the next big wave: artificial intelligence. For one of the world’s most valuable technology companies, a change in leadership could mean changes in the way it conceives, designs and creates the products used every day around the world.
“The only thing we can read is that Apple is facing a period of heightened volatility,” said Robert Siegel, a longtime venture capitalist and lecturer at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.
Apple stock (AAPL) is up about 12% this year, much less than the 30% gain in 2024.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Apple just announced the following executive departures this week:
Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social activities, is retiring next year.
General counsel Kate Adams will also retire next year.
Alan Dye, vice president of human interface design, joins Meta as chief design officer.
John Giannandrea, senior vice president of machine learning and artificial intelligence strategy, will also retire next year.
Apple will hire Meta chief legal officer Jennifer Newstead to lead government affairs after Adams retires and serve as its new general counsel. The Environmental and Social Initiatives team will now report to Apple Chief Operating Officer Sabih Khan. Amar Subramanya, vice president of Microsoft Artificial Intelligence, will serve as Apple’s new vice president of artificial intelligence.
Earlier this year, Jeff Williams resigned as Apple’s chief operating officer.
Aerial view of Apple Park, Apple’s circular headquarters office building, in Cupertino, California, on May 16, 2024. – Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images
Apple isn’t the only tech giant making structural changes. Meta said Thursday it will shift some of its investments from its Metaverse virtual reality project to artificial intelligence glasses and wearables. Amazon laid off 14,000 employees in October as part of a push to advance artificial intelligence faster through leaner operations. Google last year merged its hardware and software teams to better integrate artificial intelligence across its products.
But Apple is known for its unique, close-knit, secretive company culture.
“This goes against Apple’s typical culture. But they need to rip the Band-Aid off,” said Dan Ives, global head of technology research at Wedbush Securities. “Because the AI strategy is intangible, it will define Cook’s legacy and how he approaches this chapter.”
The leadership change comes amid looming questions about Apple’s future.
Apple has delayed a major update to its Siri voice assistant that was expected to bring it closer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, transforming Siri from a question-and-answer machine into an assistant that can act on behalf of the user and integrate information from a person’s phone to personalize responses.
But that upgrade has been delayed until next year, and Apple has few other AI updates for iPhones, Macs and iPads this year.
And Apple’s pricey Vision Pro headphones, the company’s first new computing category since the launch of the Apple Watch a decade ago, remain a niche product.
Meanwhile, Meta, Google, Samsung and OpenAI have announced major product expansions in artificial intelligence this year – from Meta’s new Ray-Ban Display smart glasses to Google and Samsung’s Gemini-powered headphones, and OpenAI’s push into shopping and web browsers. Google’s Gemini 3 model has also made waves since its launch in November.
Customers try out US company Apple Inc.’s Apple Vision Pro mixed reality glasses device during a launch event at the Apple Store on the Champs Elysées in Paris on July 12, 2024 – Julien De Rosa/AFP/Getty Images
Wall Street wants answers about Apple’s artificial intelligence strategy. During its July earnings call, analysts asked Apple about Siri’s role in driving new products and whether AI chatbots were threatening Apple’s relevance in internet searches. Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, even testified at Google’s antitrust hearing that people may not need iPhones in 10 years.
Dye has largely been the face of Apple’s design studio following the departure of former design director Jony Ive in 2019. Now, Dye joins Meta to help shape what the company sees as the next wave of computing. Ive is helping OpenAI create its first hardware product.
Rational Equity Armor Fund portfolio manager Joe Tigay said Dye’s decision to join Meta “is more of a direct threat to Apple” than other announced departures.
Despite pressure from artificial intelligence, iPhone 17 sales remain strong and are only expected to climb further next year. Counterpoint Research predicts that Apple’s smartphone shipments this year will surpass Samsung’s for the first time since 2011. The company is also one of a handful of companies to break the $4 trillion market capitalization threshold, along with artificial intelligence giants Nvidia and Microsoft.
Segal believes that change is not always a bad thing, especially when industries are undergoing transformation, such as the technology industry is currently experiencing in artificial intelligence. Bringing on new employees or promoting employees from within “can provide a different perspective when the company is stuck in the way it thinks and does things,” he said.
That could be just what Apple needs, as some analysts say time is running out for Apple to make bigger leaps in artificial intelligence.
“You can’t have the Fourth Industrial Revolution happening and still be watching the AI festivities through the windows outside,” Ives said. “Clearly they need a massive change in leadership.”
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