Apple has filed a lawsuit against a former employee, Di Liu, accusing him of stealing confidential information related to its Vision Pro headset and secretly joining Snap Inc., a rival in the AR space.
According to Apple, Liu worked at the company for seven years as a senior product design engineer. During that time, he had access to important information about Vision Pro and other upcoming products.
In the final days of his job, Apple claims Liu transferred confidential files to his personal cloud storage. These files included details about hardware testing, design, and features that have not yet been released. Apple also says Liu deleted data from his work laptop to hide the transfer.
Apple filed the lawsuit on June 24, 2025, in Santa Clara County. The company alleges Liu did not inform them that he had accepted a job at Snap. Instead, he reportedly said he was leaving to spend time with family. This, Apple argues, allowed him to avoid standard exit procedures like cutting off access to internal systems.
A forensic analysis of Liu’s company-issued MacBook revealed the unauthorized data access and transfer. Apple is now demanding the return of all stolen trade secrets, financial damages, and access to Liu’s personal devices and cloud accounts to assess the full extent of the breach.
Snap has responded to the situation, stating that it has no involvement in Liu’s actions.
This is not the first time Apple has taken legal action against a former employee for sharing company secrets. The case highlights how seriously Apple takes the protection of its intellectual property.
