Apple announced today that the current SVP hardware engineer, SV Ric Dan Riccio, will move to a new role where he will focus on an unspecified project, with John Ternus taking the reins as Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering will take.
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In a statement, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Riccio had made Apple a better and more innovative company, and that Ternus would bring deep expertise and vast experience to the Hardware Engineering teams.
“Every innovation that Dan has helped bring Apple to life has made us a better and more innovative company, and we’re glad he’s still part of the team,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. said. “John’s deep expertise and extensive experience has made him a daring and visionary leader of our Hardware Engineering teams. I would like to congratulate them both on these exciting new steps, and I look forward to many more new innovations that will help them world.”
There is no word on which project Riccio is going to work on, but Apple has an Apple Car and various devices for augmented reality and virtual reality. The Apple Car project was recently taken over by John Giannandrea, head of Apple AI, so Riccio’s role is therefore a mystery.
In the future, Riccio will be a vice president of engineering, which appears to be a title rating, so he may be planning to take a step back from Apple. Riccio has been with Apple since 1998, when he joined the product design team.
Riccio became vice president of iPad Hardware Engineering in 2010, taking over the Hardware team in 2012. Apple says Riccio “will play an instrumental role in shaping the future of Apple’s products.”
In a statement, Riccio said that working at Apple was ‘the opportunity of a lifetime’ and that now is the right time for change.
“Working at Apple was the opportunity of a lifetime, spending the world’s best products with the most talented people you can think of,” Riccio said. “After 23 years of leading our product design or hardware engineering teams – which culminated in our biggest and most ambitious product year ever – it’s the time for change. I’m looking forward to doing what I love most – – all my time and energy at Apple is focused on creating something new and wonderful that I can no longer be excited about. ‘
John Ternus initially joined Apple in 2001 as part of the Product Design team and in 2013 took on a role as Vice President of Hardware Engineering. He oversaw the launch of products that include first-generation AirPods, each iPad, and the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro.