According to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, Johny Srouji, Apple's senior vice president and head of hardware technology, recently told CEO Tim Cook that he is considering leaving Apple in the near future and intends to join another company after leaving, but the potential destination has not yet been made clear. In this regard, Apple declined to comment on relevant reports.
Srouji is regarded as a key figure in Apple's self-developed chip strategy. His team has led the design of a series of processors, including Apple Silicon, and is considered Apple's core engineering force in self-developed hardware and performance optimization. It is generally believed that if this rumor eventually comes true, it may have a profound impact on future generations of chip product lines.
However, this statement has also caused many doubts in the industry. According to the report, although there is news that Srouji has disclosed his intention to leave to Cook and some colleagues, public reports of relevant details are currently very limited and there is a lack of further support. In addition, judging from his age, the 61-year-old Srouji is more often seen as likely to work at Apple until retirement rather than choosing to jump to another company at this time. Therefore, this rumor is regarded by some observers as a speculative news that continues the recent "executive changes" topic.
Recently, personnel changes at Apple’s top management have accelerated significantly. On December 1, Apple announced that John Giannandrea, senior vice president of machine learning and artificial intelligence strategy, would retire in the spring of 2026 and be replaced by Amar Subramanya. Subsequently, Alan Dye, the head of human-computer interface design, was poached by Meta. He plans to officially become Meta's chief design officer on December 31, and his position will be replaced by Steve Lemay.
On December 4, Apple confirmed that Lisa Jackson, vice president of environment, policy and social affairs, and general counsel Kate Adams will retire in 2026, making the outside world more concerned about the "concentrated exodus" of the company's top executives. At the same time, speculations about Tim Cook's future successor and retirement timetable are also rapidly fermenting in the public opinion field, further amplifying the volume of all rumors related to the departure and retention of senior executives.
It should be noted that Apple is a giant company with about 164,000 employees. At this size, it is normal for the top and middle management teams to come and go. Although changes in key figures like Srouji who are at the top of Apple's "food chain" are bound to attract greater attention, from the perspective of product development cycles, Apple's existing chip and hardware routes were mostly launched several years ago, and there will be no immediate disruptions in the short term due to changes in individual executives.
As of now, Apple has not confirmed or denied reports about Srouji’s departure, and the relevant statements remain at the level of unofficial rumors. In view of the importance of his position, once the news is true, it is expected that Apple will issue an announcement through official channels to explain the specific arrangements and subsequent personnel layout.