Apple's design chief Alan Dye to join Meta for Reality Labs' new creative studio

With its Reality Labs all set for a new creative initiative, Alan Dye, the design executive who led Apple’s user interface team for the last decade, is set to join Meta to lead the new creative project.

The joining of Dye at Meta was claimed by a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, a renowned tech reporter with a track record of accurately predicting developments involving Apple and other tech giants.

Dye marks a huge hire for Meta, as the company is pushing toward consumer devices like smart glasses and virtual reality headsets. He will focus on improving AI features in these devices and report directly to Meta Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth.

Who's Apple's new design chief?

For the vacancy after Dye's departure, Apple is likely to welcome Steve Lemay, who has had “a key role in the design of every major Apple interface since 1999,” according to a statement Apple CEO Tim Cook gave Bloomberg.

Meta's recruitment strategy is aimed at competitors to enhance its position in the AI landscape. This summer, the iPhone maker also hired researchers from OpenAI, with reports claiming that CEO Mark Zuckerberg even delivered homemade soup to entice recruits.

Following Dye's departure announcement, Zuckerberg introduced a new creative studio under Reality Labs, which Dye will spearhead.

Dye for Meta's new creative studio will be joined by Billy Sorrentino, another former Apple designer, alongside Joshua To and Meta’s industrial design team led by Pete Bristol, as well as its metaverse design and art teams.

Regarding the new creative studio, Zuckerberg said it aims to “bring together design, fashion, and technology to define the next generation of our products and experiences.”