Apple v. OpenAI: Trade Secrets Lawsuit and the Fight for the Post-Smartphone Era

In July 2026, Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing the company of stealing trade secrets. According to Apple, former employees who moved to OpenAI probed for hardware manufacturing secrets in job interviews and downloaded files from Apple's corporate servers. OpenAI denies the allegations and has not yet filed an official response.

What does Apple accuse OpenAI of?

Apple claims that a group of its former engineers at OpenAI deliberately hunted for trade secrets, including in job interviews where candidates were asked to describe secret Apple projects by their code names. According to the complaint, applicants were encouraged to carry hardware samples out of Apple's offices, including batteries and other components, for a "show and tell." In one of the messages cited, an employee who had gained access to confidential Apple data wrote: "LOL! It's so funny that I even have access to this."

• Apple filed the lawsuit against OpenAI in July 2026
• In 2025, OpenAI bought Jony Ive's hardware startup io Products for $6.5 billion
• Tang Tan is OpenAI's head of hardware; he spent 24 years at Apple before that and was a vice president for Apple Watch
• OpenAI is reportedly developing five devices; the first is a smart speaker without a screen
• ChatGPT has about 900 million free users

Intellectual property lawyers interviewed by The Verge note that such tactics are not unusual on their own in trade secret cases. What is unusual is seeing all of them gathered in a single case between two giants.

Who is at the center of the lawsuit?

The central figure in the suit is Tang Tan, OpenAI's head of hardware, who worked at Apple for 24 years and led the Apple Watch division. He left Apple in 2024 for Jony Ive's startup io Products, which OpenAI then acquired, after which Tan received a C-suite title.

Apple names Tang Tan as the organizer of the trade secret collection effort. According to the company, he conducted interviews and asked about classified projects, and candidates, seeing how much he knew, felt they could speak more freely. Notably, Jony Ive himself, the legendary Apple designer who worked with Steve Jobs, is not mentioned in the suit at all.

"Sam

Altman didn't need another lawsuit," said Hayden Field, senior AI reporter at The Verge.

What does the lawsuit mean for OpenAI?

The suit hits OpenAI at a difficult moment, on the eve of its IPO, when investors are scrutinizing the company's path to profitability. Apple is known as an extremely persistent plaintiff: in the 1990s it sued Microsoft over copyright, and in the 2000s and early 2010s it sued Samsung over patents, which ultimately paid about $1 billion. But neither lawsuit stopped Microsoft or Samsung.

The difference is that OpenAI is not Apple or Samsung: the company is still burning cash, regularly loses top executives, and is torn between the enterprise and consumer markets. According to The Verge, OpenAI may delay its IPO, and Apple's lawsuit could become an additional argument for postponing.

What does this mean?

The dispute between Apple and OpenAI is not only about stolen blueprints but also about who will set the rules for the post-smartphone era. For OpenAI, which spent $6.5 billion on its hardware ambitions, a legal fight with the world's most experienced hardware maker threatens the company exactly where it is weakest.

Frequently asked questions

How much did OpenAI pay for Jony Ive's startup?

In 2025, OpenAI bought io Products, a hardware startup founded by former Apple designer Jony Ive, for $6.5 billion.

Why isn't Jony Ive mentioned in Apple's lawsuit?

Apple did not name Ive in the suit, even though he brought former Apple designers to OpenAI and sold the company part of his business. According to The Verge reporter Hayden Field's guess, Apple simply has no dirt on him: "others are doing the dirty work for him."

Can the lawsuit delay OpenAI's IPO?

Yes. According to The Verge, OpenAI was already considering pushing its IPO to early next year even without the lawsuit, and the legal dispute with Apple strengthens the case for a delay.