Latest Apple Park flyover highlights landscaping push, campus-wide construction

By Roger Fingas

New drone footage of Apple Park reveals that major landscaping work is underway within the main courtyard, and that while diminished in places, campus building construction is still very much active.

The courtyard is now home to a large tree grove as well as tall mounds of dirt, a video by pilot Duncan Sinfield shows. Apple Park is eventually expected to host about 9,000 trees -- some of them fruit-bearing, in an homage to the region's old orchards.

Other portions of the video show that while many buildings are effectively complete, construction is still ongoing along Tantau Avenue, and even around the "spaceship" itself. Tantau was reportedly closed to vehicles for much of July for the sake of completing the Visitor Center, which recently began hiring.

While at least some staff are already working at Apple Park, the rough state of the campus suggests that a full transition from 1 Infinite Loop -- including executives like CEO Tim Cook -- may take many months. The company's old headquarters should eventually centralize some of its cloud teams.

Apple is likely eager to complete the Steve Jobs Theater by September, given an anticipated "iPhone 8" announcement and other product debuts.