Apple is experiencing essentially the most intensive management transformation since its visionary CEO and cofounder Steve Jobs died in 2011, with a wave of exits throughout synthetic intelligence, design, authorized, operations, and monetary divisions that may reshape one of many world’s Most worthy firms.
The iPhone maker introduced final week that Lisa Jackson, its vice chairman of surroundings, coverage, and social initiatives, will retire in January, whereas Kate Adams, who has served as normal counsel since 2017, will retire late subsequent 12 months. These departures comply with a cascade of current exits together with AI chief John Giannandrea, who introduced his retirement this month, and Alan Dye, the top of consumer interface design since 2015, who left to hitch Meta. Bloomberg additionally reported that Johny Srouji, Apple’s chief chip architect for Apple Silicon, is mulling an exit, however the 61-year-old govt threw chilly water on these rumors Monday, saying “I love my team, I love my job at Apple” in a memo to staffers.
Talking of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg’s social media empire has been the beneficiary of Apple’s exodus. Billy Sorrentino, one other senior design director, selected to go away for Meta with Dye, and Ruoming Pang, who headed Apple’s AI basis fashions crew, additionally left for Meta in July, taking roughly 100 engineers with him. Ke Yang, who led AI-driven internet seek for Siri, and Jian Zhang, Apple’s AI robotics lead, additionally left for Meta this 12 months.
However maybe the most important change on the high this 12 months has been Chief Working Officer Jeff Williams, who determined to retire in July after 27 years with Apple. He was lengthy thought-about the highest candidate to succeed CEO Tim Cook dinner. Additionally this summer season, CFO Luca Maestri stepped again from his function to as a substitute oversee company providers beginning within the new 12 months, whereas Kevan Parekh took over as CFO.
Succession planning and Tim Cook dinner’s future
The dimensions of the turnover has been hanging, however the timing seems related to succession planning. Each Bloomberg and the Monetary Occasions have reported that Apple is ramping up efforts to arrange for Cook dinner, who turned 65 in November, to doubtlessly retire in 2026. He has led the corporate since 2011 and grown its market cap from roughly $350 billion to $4 trillion.
John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice chairman of {hardware} engineering, has emerged because the main inner candidate to switch Cook dinner. Ternus, 50, joined Apple’s product design crew in 2001 and has overseen {hardware} engineering for each technology of iPad, the newest iPhone lineup, and AirPods. He performed an important function within the Mac’s transition to Apple silicon.
The selection of Ternus would mark a departure from Apple’s current operational focus beneath Cook dinner. Whereas Cook dinner and Williams each had operational backgrounds with experience in world provide chains, Ternus brings technical {hardware} experience. His choice would sign that Apple is prioritizing product innovation because it faces challenges in new classes just like the Imaginative and prescient Professional and competitors in synthetic intelligence.
Apple’s new AI management
Apple is bringing in Amar Subramanya, a veteran of each Google and Microsoft, to steer its AI efforts. Subramanya spent 16 years at Google, ultimately changing into head of engineering for Google’s AI assistant Gemini, earlier than a quick stint at Microsoft as company vice chairman of AI. He’ll oversee Apple Basis Fashions, machine studying analysis, and AI security, reporting to software program chief Craig Federighi.
Subramanya’s rent alerts Apple’s willpower to speed up its AI capabilities after falling behind rivals like Google and OpenAI. His expertise constructing massive language fashions at Google positions him to assist Apple develop aggressive generative AI merchandise, a essential battleground for tech firms within the coming years.
Apple’s new design management
On the design entrance, Stephen Lemay is changing Dye as the top of consumer interface design. Lemay has been with Apple since 1999 and performed a key function in designing each main Apple interface from the unique iPhone to the newest working methods.
The promotion of Lemay has reportedly been met with enthusiasm inside Apple. Blogger and podcaster John Gruber, who has coated Apple for many years and has deep ties throughout the firm, wrote that workers are borderline “giddy” about Lemay taking up.
“Sources I’ve spoken to who’ve worked with Lemay at Apple speak highly of him, particularly his attention to detail and craftsmanship,” Gruber wrote. “Those things have been sorely lacking in the Dye era.”
This inner promotion contrasts sharply with how Dye’s departure was obtained. Dye had overseen UI design for a decade however confronted inner criticism over design course and product high quality. Lemay’s appointment represents a return to the corporate’s design-first philosophy that characterised Apple’s earlier innovation phases.
Apple’s new operations and provide chain management
Sabih Khan, who has been with Apple for 30 years, took over as chief working officer in July, succeeding Williams. Khan joined the chief crew as senior vice chairman of operations in 2019 and has overseen Apple’s world provide chain for the previous six years. Khan can even now oversee surroundings and social initiatives, taking up a few of Lisa Jackson’s former duties.
Khan’s appointment represents continuity in operations whereas consolidating duties throughout the chief suite. His deep information of Apple’s manufacturing and logistics networks positions him to navigate ongoing provide chain challenges, notably as the corporate diversifies manufacturing past China.
Apple’s new authorized and regulatory management
Her appointment underscores Apple’s give attention to navigating complicated regulatory environments whereas addressing regulatory challenges round AI growth and information privateness. Her expertise in authorities affairs at Meta, the place she managed relations with policymakers globally, makes her well-suited to deal with Apple’s increasing regulatory obligations.
Apple’s new monetary management
Kevan Parekh assumed the chief monetary officer function on January 1, 2025, changing Luca Maestri, who had held the place since 2014. Parekh introduced deep familiarity with Apple’s monetary operations, having labored within the firm’s finance division beforehand. His transition to CFO continues Apple’s sample of selling skilled insiders to high roles, although his tenure additionally displays the corporate’s want for regular monetary stewardship amid market volatility and shifting investor expectations.
Apple’s inflection level
The departures span capabilities essential to Apple’s aggressive place. Past the seen departures, Apple has misplaced important expertise in AI analysis to its competitors in Silicon Valley, specifically Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI. Apple is making an attempt to deal with this by means of high-profile hires like Subramanya, however the scale of exits suggests inner friction or strategic shifts that pushed executives to discover alternatives elsewhere.
Regardless of the upheaval, Apple is positioning these adjustments as strategic fairly than reactive. The transitions of Williams, Maestri, and others have been described as “long-planned successions” in firm bulletins. Cook dinner has publicly praised the incoming leaders and emphasised continuity, whilst Apple assembles what quantities to a wholly new management crew for its subsequent chapter.
Cook dinner himself stays a query mark. Whereas some studies recommend he might retire in 2026, the chief has been adamant about his plans. In January, Cook dinner informed CNBC he would by no means retire, not less than in “the traditional way,” including he would “always want to work.” Nonetheless, all of the dependable reporting since that on-air interview factors to eventualities during which Cook dinner will step again from day-to-day operations.
Wanting forward
The adjustments additionally mirror a shift in Apple’s strategic priorities. Underneath Cook dinner, the corporate has excelled in operational effectivity and world provide chain administration. However beneath Ternus—if he certainly turns into CEO—the corporate could place larger emphasis on {hardware} innovation and product differentiation, notably in rising classes the place AI and design intersect.
The appointment of Subramanya to steer AI, mixed with the return of Stephen Lemay to design, suggests Apple is doubling down on what made it profitable within the first place: breakthrough merchandise with cutting-edge know-how with considerate design.
All of it suggests 2026 shall be a pivotal 12 months for Apple, which is anticipated to speed up its AI efforts, roll out new telephone designs, and fend off regulators to safe long-term positioning within the quickly altering panorama.
For this story, Fortune journalists used generative AI as a analysis device. An editor verified the accuracy of the data earlier than publishing.
