Abidur Chowdhury, the industrial designer who debuted Apple’s iPhone Air to the world just two months ago when the company picked him to talk about the phone in its introductory video, has left the company for an unnamed artificial intelligence startup, Bloomberg reports. The departure adds to mounting challenges for the ultrathin device, which has struggled with disappointing sales since its September launch. It marks another significant loss for Apple’s design division, which has experienced near-complete turnover since legendary design chief Jony Ive departed in 2019.
Chowdhury spent more than six years at Apple and earned a high-profile assignment narrating the iPhone Air’s two-minute design video during the company’s September event. His exit reportedly created ripples internally, given his rising prominence within the design team. However, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman said his departure was unrelated to the iPhone Air’s underwhelming market performance.
The timing underscores the complex trajectory of the iPhone Air, which Apple positioned between the baseline iPhone 17 and the more premium iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max in terms of pricing, even though the phone’s camera and battery life aren’t quite as good as any of those phones—including the more affordable iPhone 17. The iPhone Air starts at $999, but the comparable iPhone 17 starts at $899, or you can get the total package in the iPhone 17 Pro for just $100 more, at $1,099.
