Apple’s new CEO, John Ternus, is weighing a broad overhaul of the iPhone maker aimed at sharpening its engineering focus, introducing products more frequently and creating a leaner organisation, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.
The early ideas under consideration include moving away from Apple’s traditional spring and autumn product-release cycle and eliminating some middle-management roles to narrow the gap between engineers and top executives, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Ternus, a 25-year Apple veteran and long-time hardware chief who oversaw multiple generations of the iPhone, succeeded Tim Cook on 1 September. Analysts said the leadership change underscored the central role of Apple’s hardware ecosystem in the company’s growth.
Apple announced the succession on 20 April, saying the board had approved it unanimously. Cook, who ran the company for 15 years, became executive chairman, with a brief that includes engaging with policymakers around the world. Under Cook, Apple’s market capitalisation rose from about US$350-billion to $4-trillion and annual revenue from $108-billion in FY2011 to more than $416-billion in FY2025, according to the company. AI is widely seen as the biggest test Ternus inherits.
Ternus joined Apple’s product design team in 2001, became a vice president of hardware engineering in 2013 and joined the executive team in 2021 as senior vice president of hardware engineering. A mechanical engineering graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, he worked as a mechanical engineer at Virtual Research Systems before joining Apple. The company credits him with a central role in introducing the iPad and AirPods, and with many generations of iPhone, Mac and Apple Watch. His fixation on detail, down to a screw with 10 more grooves than Apple had specified, featured in a profile published after his appointment.
Remaining competitive in the AI era
The report said cost-cutting efforts are already under way, while Ternus is also looking for new revenue streams and ways to extract more value from existing products.
Ternus has signalled internally that Apple needs to introduce products more quickly and become more experimental to remain competitive in the AI era, Bloomberg News reported.
Apple typically holds major annual events in June and September, with its developers conference focused on software and its September launch event centred on new iPhones and other consumer devices.
Earlier this month, Apple unveiled its first foldable smartphone, the $1 999 iPhone Duo. Analysts have said Apple’s entry could help push foldable devices into the mainstream, mirroring its impact on smartwatches and wireless earbuds.
Apple’s hardware engineering division has begun cutting engineering programme-management roles, Bloomberg News reported, adding that the reductions affected several programme managers, including roughly half a dozen directors.
That division is no longer run by Ternus. On the day it announced the succession, Apple named Johny Srouji chief hardware officer, putting both hardware engineering and the hardware technologies group he previously led under his control. Srouji joined Apple in 2008 to lead development of the A4, the first processor Apple designed itself.
The company also made significant cuts in teams working on the Siri digital assistant, the Vision Pro headset and AI-related software engineering, some of which were tied to employee performance, the report said.
The Siri cuts come as Apple rolls out a rebuilt assistant. Siri AI, a new version of Siri powered by Apple Intelligence, began rolling out in beta with iOS 27 on 14 September, initially in English only and not in the EU. Apple has said that certain Apple Intelligence features that rely on its servers, Siri AI among them, are subject to daily usage limits, and that expanded access will be offered for a fee in future. That is the kind of extra value from existing products the Bloomberg report says Ternus is looking for.
Ternus has also explored how AI could speed up product development and automate tasks currently performed by employees, according to the report. — Harshita Mary Varghese, (c) 2026 Reuters, with additional reporting (c) 2026 NewsCentral Media
