Apple sues former employee, accusing him of passing secrets to Oppo
By ForGeeks
The company Apple has accused a former engineer on the Apple Watch team of stealing trade secrets and passing them on to Chinese manufacturer Oppo. The lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of California, with Apple being represented by law firm Kirkland & Ellis.
What the former engineer is accused of
The defendant in the case is Dr. Chen Shi, who worked at Apple from January 2020 to June 2025. He worked on sensor systems for the Apple Watch, including ECG technology and temperature sensors.
According to the lawsuit, three days before he was fired, he downloaded 63 confidential documents from a corporate disk and saved them to a USB drive. Among the stolen items were technical specifications for future Apple products, including sensors and the team’s designs for custom AI chips for iPhones, iPads and Macs.
The stolen documents include technical specifications for future Apple products, including sensors and the team’s development of custom AI chips for iPhones, iPads and Macs.
Oppo Link
In the immediate aftermath of leaving Apple, Chen Shi joined Oppo, where he led one of the teams in the company’s US office. Apple claims his work phone saved messages with Oppo executives sent in April-June 2025. In them, the engineer allegedly wrote:
- “This week I will inform the team of my termination.”
- “Lately, I’ve been going through different internal materials and doing a lot of one-on-one meetings to gather as much information as possible – I’ll share it with you later.”
He told colleagues at Apple that he was leaving for China to care for his elderly parents and had no plans to look for a new job.
Oppo’s response
In comments Gizmodo Oppo representatives said they had checked Apple’s claims and “found no evidence linking the allegations to the employee’s activities while working at Oppo.”
What Apple is seeking
- prohibit Oppo from using their technology,
- claim compensation for damages and losses.
It should be noted that Oppo does not do direct business in the U.S., but owns a research center in Silicon Valley under the Oppo and Innopeak brands.
