Srouji is restructuring Apple's hardware organization Apfelpatient

Apple's designated Chief Hardware Officer, Johny Srouji, is tackling the structure of his new area of responsibility. The goal of the restructuring: faster product development and closer integration between chip and product teams. The biggest change concerns the Product Design department – with a three-tiered leadership structure at the top.

With the announcement of the leadership change on April 20, it was clear that Apple was undergoing a multi-faceted restructuring under John Ternus. Johny Srouji is taking on a significantly broader role as Chief Hardware Officer – and is now using this position to restructure key areas. Mark Gurman reports for Bloomberg on the next steps: Srouji is distributing responsibility for product design among several people, creating a new team for platforms and partnerships, and thus more closely integrating work on Apple Silicon with the devices in which the chips are used. This restructuring fits the overarching picture of a structurally perfect CEO transition that Apple has revealed in recent weeks.

The biggest change: Product design is divided into three parts

At the heart of the restructuring is the Product Design department – the function that translates the concepts of the Industrial Design department into production-ready devices. This responsibility previously lay with Kate Bergeron, a long-time Apple vice president. Going forward, the work will be divided among three people:

Shelly Goldberg is taking over product design for the Mac. Goldberg has been leading this area for Mac products for some time and will retain responsibility.
Dave Pakula is responsible for product design for Apple Watch, iPad, and AirPods. Pakula also brings his previous experience to the position, having led these areas before.
Richard Dinh remains responsible for iPhone product design. Dinh is considered a long-time Ternus confidant, which ensures continuity in this key product category.

The logic behind this is clear. Apple is distributing responsibility where established structures already exist, transforming one central function into three specialized pillars. This eliminates a bottleneck where many product decisions previously converged.

New team for platforms and partnerships

In parallel, Srouji is establishing a new team called "Ecosystems Platforms and Partnerships," headed by Matt Costello and Kevin Lynch. Both managers bring different but complementary areas of expertise.

Matt Costello heads Apple's Home and Audio Products division – which includes HomePod, Apple TV as hardware, and the related accessories.
Kevin Lynch heads an internal specialist team that works on robotics devices – an area that is gaining increasing importance at Apple and plays a central role in the context of the new hardware categories for the AI strategy.

Combining these two areas under one roof signals that Apple will increasingly focus on connected product experiences in the future, where hardware is no longer viewed in isolation. Smart home devices, audio hardware, and robotics share technical platforms, standards, and partnership requirements—a team that consolidates this overlap makes perfect sense in this context.

Closer integration of silicone and product

A second key objective of the restructuring is to better integrate Apple's Silicon teams with its product teams. In his previous role as Senior Vice President of Hardware Technologies, Srouji has earned a reputation for making Apple Silicon one of the company's most important strategic pillars. With his expanded responsibilities, he can now directly control how closely chip development is tied to the specific product architecture.

In practical terms, this means that if Apple plans a new M-chip, it shouldn't be developed in a separate path and ultimately integrated into a device – but rather developed in parallel with product development decisions. This accelerates time-to-market and prevents the typical friction losses that occur when chip and product teams pursue different priorities.

Part of a larger hardware upgrade

The changes that have now come to light are not isolated. Bloomberg reported back in April that Srouji was dividing the entire hardware organization into five separate divisions. Today's announcement essentially details how this division is being implemented in practice – including the specific individuals who will now head each function.

From a leadership strategy perspective, this fits the overall picture. Ternus takes over as CEO on September 1st and can rely on a hardware organization that is optimally positioned for the upcoming product launches under his leadership. Srouji, in turn, is shaping his expanded area of responsibility as he deems necessary for the next product cycles. Both changes are interconnected.

What the restructuring reveals about Apple's pace

The message conveyed in the Bloomberg report is clear. Apple has faced criticism in recent years for its lengthy product development processes – the iPhone Ultra was delayed multiple times, the iPad Fold has been stuck in development iterations for years, and even Apple Intelligence only gradually delivered its promised functionality. Srouji's redesign addresses precisely this issue.

Faster development, closer integration, and greater specialization at the top – these are the three levers Apple is currently adjusting. Whether the new structures deliver on their promise will be measured by the product cycles of the next two years. Should Apple succeed in bringing the announced new product categories to market more quickly, today's restructuring will have been the quiet groundwork for that. (Image: Shutterstock / nepool)