Apple's Home Hardware Boss Poached By Oura Amid Siri-Driven Setbacks

Apple continues to feel the repercussions of its failure to develop an AI-powered Siri that would be integral to future products, leading to the departure of key design figures. The talent losses continue to mount; Bloomberg’s long time Apple expert, Mark Gurman, is reporting that one of the company’s hardware engineering executives is headed for the exits.

Brian Lynch, senior director of Apple’s home devices, is leaving the company after a long career that included being part of the teams that developed several iPods. He now joins Oura Health, makers of the popular Oura smart ring, as vice president of hardware engineering.

Gurman notes that this departure “brings fresh upheaval to a division struggling to make headway in the smart home market.” This team has been rumored to be working on a tabletop robot that includes a display and employs a design reminiscent of the beloved iMac G4. Additionally, there is a reportedly a second project underway that may feature an iPad-like display that can be attached to either a speaker or placed on a wall.


Both of these in-development efforts rely on a competent Siri AI assistant, because the use cases require people to interact with the device using natural language. Unfortunately, Apple has struggled to get Siri in a state where it can be the focal point of any new product.

Although there might be light at the end of the tunnel, as Apple announced a blockbuster partnership with Google earlier this year. Google will be providing its Gemini models to help train Apple’s internally developed AI, including Siri. If all goes according to plan, the digital assistant will be getting a serious upgrade sooner rather than later.

However, if Siri’s development woes continues even after implementing the Gemini based upgrades, it likely means Apple won’t stop bleeding talent anytime soon.