The recent series of executive departures from Apple has reportedly been accompanied by moves further down the org chart.

Those moves include dozens of employees who left Apple for OpenAI and Meta in recent months, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday (Dec. 5), citing its study of LinkedIn profiles.

These employees include engineers and designers with expertise in areas such as audio, watch design and robotics, according to the report.

The report noted that these moves are happening at a time when competitors are working to challenge the market share held by the iPhone and other parts of Apple’s ecosystem, Apple is adjusting to the artificial intelligence (AI) era, and new devices are being developed to make the most of that technology.

It added that Apple CEO Tim Cook, who has shown no sign of stepping down, has this year overcome the threat of tariffs and returned the company’s stock to record levels.

PYMNTS reported Thursday (Dec. 4) that there have been several executive transitions at Apple over the last 18 months.

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This week alone saw announcements that the company’s general counsel and its vice president for environment, policy and social initiatives are planning to retire; two designs leads moved to Meta; and its longtime machine learning chief is set to retire.

Earlier, Apple’s chief operating officer retired, and the company’s chief financial officer role changed hands.

While the WSJ reported that Cook has shown no sign of stepping down, the Financial Times reported in November that Apple’s board and senior executives have stepped up preparations for Cook to turn things over to a new CEO. The report added that this is a long-planned transition and unrelated to the company’s current performance.

Cook became CEO in 2011, just before the death of Steve Jobs. Under Cook’s leadership, Apple’s market capitalization has ballooned from $350 billion in 2011 to $4 trillion.

Global market research firm Counterpoint Research said in November that Apple is set to overtake Samsung as the world’s top seller of smartphones and hold that title through 2029. Counterpoint attributed Apple’s gains to the popularity of its new iPhone 17 series.

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