Apple's upcoming projects will depend heavily on a functional Siri. | Image by Apple
Apple has lost so many of its workers to competitors that it has become an expected weekly occurrence at this point. Apparently, another senior engineer has now quit and transferred to Google instead of continuing to work on Apple’s next futuristic endeavor: robotics.
Apple’s AI robotics team
The AI robotics team over at Apple is busy working on new products: smart home robots. Made possible by modern AI, the company wants to enter the consumer robotics market before it has a chance to take off under the leadership of Meta, Google, or someone else.
Currently, Apple is working on a tabletop robot that resembles an iPad with an attached mechanical arm. This arm will be able to carry out basic physical tasks and users will be able to converse with the robot which will be powered by the new Siri that the company is developing.
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Senior engineer leaves for Google
Google might have made a better offer. | Image by Google
Practically all departments at Apple have been losing employees, some of whom were senior personnel, to companies like Meta and Google. Meta, in particular, has poached a ton of very important workers, luring them in with extremely lucrative salary offers and bonuses.
In his newsletter Power On, Apple insider Mark Gurman reveals that Benoit Landry — a senior engineering manager on Apple’s robotics team — has left for Google DeepMind. Landry is not the only Apple employee who has left Apple for DeepMind in recent memory.
According to Gurman, the leader of the team working on the aforementioned tabletop robot left for Meta last year. Following that, other senior engineers have departed the team since.
Libo Meyers, a senior executive on the project who has an interesting story of how she ended up at Apple, retired last month.
How should Apple retain its employees?
Apple needs these people
The rate at which Apple has been losing its employees is alarming. Even personnel high up in the company chain have previously threatened to leave due to dissatisfaction. The designer who did the voiceover for the introduction of the iPhone Air also left shortly after that phone’s launch.
Apple has already fallen behind in the AI race. The only reason that hasn’t affected it much yet is that most customers still don’t really care for AI on their devices. Regardless, the company needs to find a way to make sure people stop leaving in droves.
Personally, I don’t get it
This might be because I view Apple with high esteem, but I couldn’t imagine myself leaving the company for another unless the competing offering was triple my current salary. Whatever Meta or Google are working on right now won’t even get the press attention that the iPhone 18 launch will.
Perhaps I’m being shortsighted and perhaps the fruits of their labor, and poaching, will be a lot more visible a few years down the line.
Surely, senior engineers at Apple are already paid quite well. The workers who have left either really don’t believe that their careers are headed in a positive direction at Apple, or Meta and Google have much deeper pockets.
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Abdullah loves smartphones, Virtual Reality, and audio gear. Though he covers a wide range of news his favorite is always when he gets to talk about the newest VR venture or when Apple sets the industry ablaze with another phenomenal release.
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