I can't speak for Apple. But team specific hiring does have some big downsides. It allows some managers to brings friends / family in that are not really qualif

I can't speak for Apple. But team specific hiring does have some big downsides. It allows some managers to brings friends / family in that are not really qualified. I once worked with a team that every single person on the team lived in the same town, and had some personal connection to the manager, they were not good. Without some standardization or minimum bar, it leaves teams to figure out how they hire, and that might not be good.