Hillman is an Apple design veteran

Facebook announce Michael Hillman as new Oculus head of hardware

Facebook has hired Michael Hillman, a 15 year veteran of Apple’s product design division and formerly the chief architect for all of Apple’s consumer desktop products, to be Oculus VR’s head of hardware.

Michael Hillman joined Apple in 2000 as the iMac’s lead designer and remained with the company until 2015. He’s joining Oculus from robotics company Zoox Inc, and will work in close collaboration with Hans Hartmann, Oculus’ COO who joined the company from Fitbit last year.

"We’re excited to have him leading the hardware organisation," an Oculus spokesperson told Fortune, who broke the news. "We have a world-class hardware team that led the development of Rift and Touch, and we’re going to keep investing in hardware as we push the boundaries of VR technology and build next generation consumer VR products."

These new hires, along with a price drop for Oculus’ headset, has started speculation that a new iteration of Oculus’ Rift could be on the cards.

Facebook seem to be building an A-team of talent at the head of their VR business, with Hugo Barra announced as Facebook’s new head of VR back in January.

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