Latest Apple News Shared: Snow Leopard-Style iOS 27 Update, Tim Cook’s Imminent Step Down Unlikely, OpenAI’s Continued Hiring of Apple Engineers; iPhone Air Designer’s Departure

The latest news concerning the Cupertino-based tech giant – Apple have been shared online, revealing more about the next iOS 27 update, Tim Cook’s tenure as CEO, Apple engineers joining OpenAI, and the departure of the Apple iPhone Air designer. [Received via Mark Gurman of Bloomberg.]

Check out more about these latest news below.

iOS 27 Expected to be a Snow Leopard-Style Update

Back in 2009, building on top of the MacOS X Leopard, Apple had introduced its Snow Leopard operating system which focused on quality control as well as subtle improvements. It primarily focused on rewriting core pieces of its software, removing older codes, fixing bugs, and clearing unnecessary system files, thereby making Mac devices more stable, faster, and reliable. This is said to be the approach that Apple plans to adopt for its next iOS 27 update too (and also for other OS updates like macOS 27).

While we saw Apple revamping the entire design language with the iOS 26 operating system, and bringing the Liquid Glass design, many users have already reported that it carried bugs and issues like overheating, battery drain, UI glitches, unstable network connectivity, keyboard failures, and sluggish animations and navigation. However, with the iOS 27 operating system, the brand is believed to improve both the quality and performance of the software.

Additionally, new capabilities and AI functionalities can also be expected on it, and it is also expected to lay the foundation for Apple’s other new products, including the brand’s upcoming foldable iPhone. Also, the brand is said to be testing Veritas – its full-fledged chatbot app.

Tim Cook May Not Leave Soon

While Tim Cook’s transition from the position of CEO is expected, recent reports have been claiming it to be near – sometime between late January 2026 and June 2026. This is highly unlikely and stepping down from the CEO post during the mid-half of the year may not do good for the company. Notably, after Tim Cook, John Ternus (Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, Apple) is expected to take his place, and both Tim Cook (the current Apple CEO) and Jeff Williams (Apple’s retired Senior Vice President of Design, Watch, and Health) have previously approved of it. It is also believed that Tim Cook may still stay at Apple, taking up positions like the Chairman.

OpenAI Continues Hiring Apple Engineers

Following the merge of io and OpenAI, the AI company is preparing to bring out many new devices next year in 2026, and former Apple executives like Jony Ive, Evans Hankey, and Tang Tan are part of it. Reportedly, in the past month itself, OpenAI hired over 40 employees and most of them are from Apple. These include previous directors, managers, and engineers of the brand from key areas like iPhone hardware, Mac hardware, camera engineering, industrial design, audio, smartwatch, Vision Pro, testing, and many more. Apple considers this to be a threat and isn’t really pleased with what OpenAI is doing.

iPhone Air Design Leaves the Company

Adding onto the list of Apple employees who are leaving the company, Abidur Chowdhury from the brand’s design team has also left. He is the designer of the latest Apple iPhone Air, and had introduced this device during the keynote held two months back in a two-minute video. Abidur Chowdhury’s departure also marks the continued struggle that Apple is facing to retain its top employees. Just to add, leaving Apple, he has joined an AI startup.