You don’t always know the real reason someone leaves a job — not even the man seen in the video below, Abidur Chaudhry, an Apple industrial designer who played a “key role” in developing the iPhone Air, and served as its spokesperson when it was introduced, but who, according to Bloomberg, has left Apple for an AI startup.
With that in mind, a little over a week ago it was reported that the iPhone Air was such a flop that Apple has delayed launching the next model. (Bloomberg’s story on Chaudhary said a second iPhone Air will still arrive, but not until 2027.) Gizmodo’s largely positive review of the device found it too light for its own good, with less-than-ideal battery life, and noted that if it’s “going the way of the dodo like the iPhone mini and Plus,” it could become a “testing ground for tiny components in a smart glass form factor” ahead of the later release of a foldable iPhone. Could. But.
Bloomberg’s story on Chaudhry’s departure (named after unnamed “people familiar with the move”) comes from Bloomberg’s intrepid Apple scoop-getter, Mark Gurman, who has been quick to say that he does not Think the iPhone Air is the kind of corporate disaster that led to Chaudhary’s ouster. “Their exit is unrelated to the launch of the phone, which has been praised for its design despite its underwhelming sales,” Gurman tweeted.
His exit is unrelated to the phone’s debut, in which its design was praised despite low sales. https://t.co/sw2mtOGs58
– Mark Gurman (@markgurman) 18 November 2025
Chaudhary joined Apple in 2019, around the same time celebrity chief design officer Jony Ive left the company. According to reports, that period would have coincided with the company’s efforts to recover from its slow-moving recession, which was triggered when I lost my faith in Apple due to disagreements about the Apple Watch, and then mostly stopped coming to work, and let my department basically implode.
According to Gurman, Choudhury’s resignation “caused a stir internally, given his rising profile within the design team.”