Abidur Chowdhury, one of the designers behind the iPhone Air, has left Apple to join an unnamed AI startup, according to a report from Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter.
Chowdhury appears in Apple’s introductory video for the iPhone Air. While he was not the only major influence on the product, insiders say his departure has affected the design team.
He joined Apple roughly six years ago, around the time Jony Ive stepped away from the company to form his own agency, LoveFrom. Ive was later involved in a separate project called “io,” which OpenAI purchased, though he and LoveFrom did not join the company.
Although the iPhone Air’s sales performance has reportedly been weaker than expected, sources stress that Chowdhury’s exit was not linked to those numbers. Apple is still working on the next version of the iPhone Air, and while the second-generation model is said to be delayed, it has not been canceled. It is expected to be called the iPhone Air 2.
The outlook is less certain for Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Edge, with recent reports suggesting its future may be in doubt.
