Apple recently announced a new round of high-level personnel changes. Current senior vice president of hardware technology Johny Srouji will serve as chief hardware officer (Chief Hardware Officer), taking over the hardware engineering work previously responsible for John Ternus, who is about to be promoted to chief executive officer (CEO). This adjustment was announced simultaneously with Apple’s confirmation that Tim Cook will step down as CEO this summer and will be replaced by John Ternus, the current senior vice president of hardware engineering.
According to information disclosed by Apple, Srouji will merge the responsibilities of "Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering" and "Senior Vice President of Hardware Technology" that were originally divided into two departments, and unify him as chief hardware officer. The new role means that he will coordinate all the way from chip R&D and manufacturing to end product design, and provide end-to-end management of Apple's entire hardware product line. The report pointed out that this structural upgrade may also continue to cause a chain of personnel and organizational adjustments within Apple in the coming period.
In a statement, current CEO Tim Cook spoke highly of Srouji's central role in Apple's chip strategy, calling him "one of the most talented people" he has ever had the pleasure to work with, and said he played a "unique" role in promoting the development of Apple's self-developed chips. His influence not only spread throughout the company, but also profoundly changed the entire industry. Cook pointed out that Srouji has led the team with skillful judgment, delivered disruptive innovations many times, and reshaped Apple's product form. He feels "extremely lucky" that the company can have such a chief hardware officer at a critical moment.
Incoming CEO John Ternus also publicly stated that Srouji is an "incredible partner" and believes that he will be "an extraordinary chief hardware officer." Ternus said he looks forward to working closely with Srouji in their new positions to jointly promote the next stage of Apple's development.
According to the current arrangement, Ternus will officially become Apple's CEO on September 1, 2026, which coincides with the release of a generation of iconic iPhones. The market generally expects that the iPhone 18 series to be unveiled by then is expected to include the long-rumored folding screen model iPhone Fold, which also means that this fall will be a key node for Apple’s new management and new hardware team to accept market testing.