Apple loses another key employee to Tesla

By

Tesla
Tesla is siphoning engineering talent from Apple.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The battle between Apple and Tesla to attract top talent revved up to a new level this week after another key employee for the iPhone-maker defected to Elon Musk’s auto company.

Matt Casebolt, who made key contributions to the design of the original MacBook Air, has reportedly left the company to work as an engineer for Tesla.

Casebolt updated his LinkedIn profile Wednesday revealing his now Tesla’s Senior Director of Engineering for closure and mechanisms. During his time at Apple, Casebolt’s name appeared on 52 patents. He led the development of the new MacBook Pro with its controversial Touch Bar as well as the redesigned Mac Pro that debuted a few years ago.

News of Casebolt’s departure comes right after the guy that invented Swift announced that he is leaving Apple at the end of the month to become the VP of Autopilot software at Tesla. Apple and Tesla’s competition for talent has increased in the last two years as Apple pursues self-driving car technology.

A top PR person for Apple also recently defected to Tesla as well. Tesla CEO Elon Musk once referred to Apple as ‘The Tesla graveyard‘ because the company had hired a bunch of former engineers that worked on Tesla’s cars. It looks like Tesla is well on its way to becoming a company full of Old Apples though.

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.