Apple's lead UI designer leaves company for Meta following other corporate departures

It hasn't been a good week for Apple's corporate structure. 

Alan Dye, the head of Apple's user interface design team, is leaving the company to take a job at Meta Platforms Inc. Dye will serve as Meta's Chief Design Officer. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Dye will report directly to Andrew Bosworth, Meta's Chief Technology Officer. Dye will help lead Reality Labs, the team behind products like the Meta Quest line of VR headsets. 

This shift comes amidst other major departures from Apple. Apple's former Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams, retired in November. Earlier this week, Apple's head of AI development John Giannandrea announced he was stepping down. Outlets like Bloomberg are also speculating other Apple departures are coming soon, including Apple's head of silicon development Johny Srouji and even CEO Tim Cook.

Interestingly, Dye's departure may be a silver lining. While Apple lost their head of design, Dye will be replaced by Stephen Lemay, a veteran at the company who "has played a key role in the design of every major Apple interface since 1999," according to CEO Tim Cook. Cook also said that "[Lemay] has always set an extraordinarily high bar for excellence and embodies Apple’s culture of collaboration and creativity."

John Gruber, a tech blogger who often writes about Apple, claims that employees at Apple with whom he has spoken are "happy - if not downright giddy - at the news that Lemay is replacing Dye."