Apple is suing a former senior engineer, Di Liu, accusing him of stealing thousands of confidential documents related to the Vision Pro headset and taking them to Snap, the company behind Snapchat and its smart glasses. According to a lawsuit filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court on June 24, 2025, Apple claims Liu misappropriated trade secrets during his final days at the company. Liu had worked at Apple for seven years and was most recently a senior product design engineer on the Vision Pro team.
Apple says Liu told them he was resigning to focus on his health and spend more time with family. In reality, the lawsuit alleges he had already accepted a position at Snap working on AR glasses and similar technologies. By hiding his new job, Liu avoided Apple’s standard security protocols that cut off access to internal systems when an employee leaves for a competitor.
Three days before his departure, Liu allegedly used his Apple credentials to download a “massive volume” of internal documents to his personal cloud storage. These files reportedly included design plans, testing data, supply chain information, and details on unreleased Vision Pro features. Forensic analysis of his company-issued MacBook showed Liu selected folders manually, renamed them, and uploaded them. Apple also claims he deleted certain files to hide the transfer.
Snap, which launched its first Spectacles smart glasses in 2017 and has continued to experiment with AR wearables, is not named as a defendant and denies any involvement. A Snap spokesperson said the company had reviewed Apple’s lawsuit and saw no reason to believe Liu’s conduct is related to his current role at Snap.
Apple has a long history of aggressively protecting its intellectual property. The company previously sued a former chip architect in 2019 for breaching contract, and in 2022, it went after startup Rivos for poaching employees and taking confidential data. In another high-profile case, an ex-Apple engineer admitted earlier this year to leaking details about the Vision Pro to the press.
In Liu’s case, Apple is asking the court to order the return of the allegedly stolen documents and allow it to inspect his devices and cloud accounts to ensure no proprietary data remains. The company is also seeking unspecified financial damages.
While Apple continues to defend its trade secrets, it’s clear that the Vision Pro and its future iterations remain a key focus. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has outlined a roadmap that includes a wider range of visionOS devices. By 2027, Apple reportedly plans to introduce Apple Smart Glasses and a lower-cost Vision Air headset. The Smart Glasses will focus on audio, cameras, and AI-based environmental awareness, while the Vision Air is expected to be lighter and more affordable, aimed at mainstream adoption.
(via SiliconValley)
