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Apple Chip Chief Johny Srouji Could Be Next to Go as Exodus Continues
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I'm amazed how folks defending Apple can seemingly downplay anything.
Srouji is SVP of Hardware Tech.
That's Apple Silicon.
This is not someone that would be "no big deal" to lose.
Srouji is SVP of Hardware Tech.
That's Apple Silicon.
This is not someone that would be "no big deal" to lose.
I don’t think a single person has said this about Srouji here yet. And I’d be surprised if they did. Dye sucked, and people are (rightly) glad he is gone. Srouji is (rightly) popular.
I’m more thankful for the stock price than whatever products they make.
I think most people, even here, understand that. Still many people in their 60s do retire to enjoy life, slow down a little, and pursue other interests. I've seen that happen many times in places I've worked.
With the many millions of $ he's earned over the years at Apple that wouldn't surprise me at all.
Nothing is permanent. Think Nokia, Blackberry, Windows Phone, OS/2 - the one inevitability in life is that everything rises and falls, including us. Apple will too. It's just a question of when and who will replace them.
Really? Where they can reach a customer base if 1B+??
Some people aren't in for the money only...
iPhone pocket is a sold out success.
Apple creating a new type of Mac memory where 8GB is analogous to 16GB was a success. It was so successful that many MR members consistently argued how 8GB was plenty enough.
And he has lead an incredible transition...
At his age, he clearly does not need the money, nor, given his semiconductor background, is going to join some startup in whatever role, so, what is going thru his head? I can guarantee you 1 item: retirement
"Reaching a massive customer base" isn't necessarily a primary motivation for innovative product people.
A company the size of Apple, that's as established as it is, has many institutional handcuffs that one may want to be free to work without.
The scope of "what's possible to make" at Apple is fairly narrow actually.
I don't think you understand the meaning of sinking. The probelm is actually... what is the NEXT step change in tech. The vision IS the future. It might be expensive but in 3 years when they are proper glasses with full AR you'll understand and Apple are building a base for it. Meta are building hardware with no software infrastructure behind it.
Air is just something no one needed.. if it was the iPhone 17 at that price point they woudl have sold buckets of them. And it needed to be flat.
Fold I agree with. I don't see the point in them at all. I'd rather have a 11/13" iPad AND a phone.
Intelligence is only the name of whatever collecive AI they bundle. The trick I found out the other day is to turn off siri>Chatgpt>Confirmation requests and it actaully works and will answer anything directly. They do need that on Apple Homepods and Apple homekit too though.
I hope you're joking here..
A limited edition knit jock strap for a phone is not a "successful new product category".
People destroy other people property and it's celebrated. What a world...
That's a shame - I really like this guy. Apple Silicon has been a resounding success (for Mac).
Plus, I like his presentation. Reminds me of Panos Panay - it feels like he actually cares about what he's talking about.
Plus, I like his presentation. Reminds me of Panos Panay - it feels like he actually cares about what he's talking about.
Well his pay is apparently $26.9m (2023) Pay, stock and incentives. I wonder if he is gunning for the big job?
Act like a creep and expect consequences, yep!
A few thoughts. Everyone who hates Tim will soon get their wish—the most hated CEO to ever lead a company to become the most profitable in the history of the world. And given the recent reports of how well the iPhone 17s are selling show they’re a company sinking fast with zero stability. Every other company is sailing.
I mean look at Open AI! Look how profitable they are! How much compute power they posses! Nevermind they just recently declared code red. https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-code-red-chatgpt-advertising-google-search-gemini-2025-12
Once they release Ive’s device they recently promised in two years, Apple will be done for. It’s going great, by the way: https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/05/o...-be-struggling-to-figure-out-their-ai-device/
For those leaving for Meta, your boss will now be Mark Zuckerberg. Let that sink in. Mark Zuckerberg. Per Bloomberg: “He’s making budget cuts as high as 30% for the company’s metaverse group next year, which includes the virtual worlds product Meta Horizon Worlds and its Quest virtual reality unit. Cuts that high would most likely include firings as early as January. His entire metaverse effort has long drawn scrutiny from investors who see it as a drain on resources—as well as from watchdogs, who have alleged that children’s privacy and safety have been compromised in the virtual worlds.” Oh, and they also make some Ray Bans.
Google is also giving their employees lots of love: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/google-quietly-restricts-generous-workplace-173300623.html
Apple is over. It's the last place anyone would want to work right now.
I mean look at Open AI! Look how profitable they are! How much compute power they posses! Nevermind they just recently declared code red. https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-code-red-chatgpt-advertising-google-search-gemini-2025-12
Once they release Ive’s device they recently promised in two years, Apple will be done for. It’s going great, by the way: https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/05/o...-be-struggling-to-figure-out-their-ai-device/
For those leaving for Meta, your boss will now be Mark Zuckerberg. Let that sink in. Mark Zuckerberg. Per Bloomberg: “He’s making budget cuts as high as 30% for the company’s metaverse group next year, which includes the virtual worlds product Meta Horizon Worlds and its Quest virtual reality unit. Cuts that high would most likely include firings as early as January. His entire metaverse effort has long drawn scrutiny from investors who see it as a drain on resources—as well as from watchdogs, who have alleged that children’s privacy and safety have been compromised in the virtual worlds.” Oh, and they also make some Ray Bans.
Google is also giving their employees lots of love: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/google-quietly-restricts-generous-workplace-173300623.html
Apple is over. It's the last place anyone would want to work right now.
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Yes, absolutely. And people are people. They want to put their talents to good use and expand their own personal sense of accomplishment. Apple is more about protecting their walled garden than innovating. Notice how when you are small and starving, you want openness. As Apple grows, they close everything off.
I have gone back and forth from Google to Apple and Apple to Google over the years. I am comfortable with both, but I think Apple has lost me. More and more I am using Google products.
I have both an iPhone 16 and a Pixel 9. I have both a Lenovo Chromebook Plus with a MediaTek Kompanio and a MacBook Air with M3. Over the years I have absolutely started to hate the whole Apple walled garden.
I have the Meta Oculus Quest 2. Not the current generation, but still perfectly fine. They are not in the same league as Apple's Vision Pro goggles, but for watching a movie they are totally acceptable and enjoyable. I can watch either Amazon or Google purchases on the Quest 2 with a theater-like experience for only $399. I don't have to spend close to $4,000 to get a fun experience.
Messaging: RCS vs. iMessage
iMessage exemplifies the frustration of the walled garden; its supposed cross-device sync often fails to deliver a seamless experience.
With iMessage, it's supposed to sync across devices, and it does... sort of... Give it time and it will, but I find myself having to know to set it up to sync with iCloud, and when I delete on the phone or tablet, it's not instant on everything else. And when it does delete, I've seen the badge notification remain, even though the message is gone. I really hate iMessage these days. I'd rather just use RCS, and so I do that now.
On the Pixel, RCS is totally fine. It's not a walled garden. It's open. I'd like it even more if SMS, RCS and MMS were added into other apps like WhatsApp so one app could be used for all of these message types. Google Chat would be a good option for such a thing as well. I love Google Chat.
Photos and Cloud Sync
When I take a photo on my iPhone, even with 91% charge Apple holds off on instant sync for the sake of extending battery life. When I take a photo, my expectation is that the photo immediately syncs to the cloud. This is a lot more true on Pixel with Google Photo than with iPhone and iCloud Photos.
Services and Collaboration
100% of everyone I know uses Google Calendar, Gmail, Docs, etc. I handle distance learning through Google's education suite. Everything is a Google Meet, a Google Doc, Google Calendar, and Google Chat. Apple's services are not good at all; Google's are the standard.
Voice Assistants: Gemini vs. Siri
I absolutely cannot stand how Apple linked with ChatGPT and announces when something goes through GPT. I hate even more how Siri says, "I found some results and it's in the browser I opened for you." I later learned of a setting you can use to make the default verbal, but I had to learn of its existence. It wasn't exactly known to me. Forced sync is another thing I had to figure out.
Over the years I just feel like Apple lost the signal. I don't like how it syncs. I hate iMessage. I use Google Services 100% of the time. Gemini works for me. As a language learner, Gemini is fantastic. I have about 30 prompts I made now, and learning is much easier and efficient. I could use Gemini on the iPhone and the Mac. The platform doesn't matter in that sense. But it was Google that brought it to the forefront. Apple just continues to deliver the horrible Siri. I hate Siri in ways that are difficult to describe with mere words. It just sucks for me.
Apple's One Triumph: The M-Series Chips
One thing I will say about Apple. I long realized my iPad was better than my MacBook Pro, and so I kept hoping Apple would ditch Intel and just use their own chip designs. And then they did. I traded in a $4,500 MacBook Pro for the MacBook Air with M1 when it launched. It was worth it. I got about $950 for my $4,500 laptop and put that toward the $1600 M1 I bought via the Apple Trade-in. That might seem like a horrible deal, but the reality isn’t, I paid $600 for an upgrade. The M1 benchmarked better in every way, and I was happy to make that switch. The M series of SOCs is one of Apple's best moves in my opinion. Without that switch, I'd have likely moved on long ago.
Tablets and Value
The iPad used to be the gold standard for tablets. Apps like Goodnotes were enough of a reason to buy an iPad all by itself. Now, there are better values out there, and Goodnotes is available on Android. I have two Lenovo tablets now. A Legion 8.8" finally solved the problem of no good mini tablet. Now there are several good mini tablets on Android. It sure took them long enough, but they are there now. The larger tablets tend to be a better value, and I paid about $605 delivered for a 12.9" Lenovo with 16GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, a pen, and a keyboard. I like the aspect ratio better, I like the Google Services better, and I don't feel like I got robbed.
I will always need a Mac for work. But for my personal uses and learning, a good Chromebook is fine for me. For just making cards with an AI generated image, and my adding text to the card in another language, Canva is totally fine, and easily shared in a collaborative environment as is Google Docs. Gemini prompts that help me learn are very useful. So most of the day is now spent in Google's hardware and software. That's where my attention has gone.
Apple is just Apple. I don't really need them anymore, except for pro uses like Adobe's suite, graphics for print, and things of that nature. All the fun stuff I do for myself, I can do nicely with a Chromebook Plus, Android, and Google. Everything Siri was supposed to be has been a huge disappointment.
I'd also credit Apple with sparking others to adopt ARM sooner rather than later. All these smartphones have caused R&D to accelerate ARM advances, and that's a very good thing. But the whole Apple walled garden has lost the signal for me. I used to love iMessage; now I hate iMessage. Apple Services in my humble opinion are just slow and pathetic. They destroyed the value of Apple's former glory.
I can see why everyone wants to go somewhere else and work on something exciting. Apple has become the old legacy company, boring and defensive, much like Microsoft has always been.
For the most part, Tim's C-Suite is filled with idiots anyways. Ternus is probably the only quality employee.
"The old order changeth, yielding place to new," Alfred Lord Tennyson.
This is a young person's industry. Apple needs to tap into the next generation of thinkers and innovators.
This is a young person's industry. Apple needs to tap into the next generation of thinkers and innovators.
According to the article, Srouji is not retiring but looking to continue his career elsewhere. That's the optics at play. If true why at 61 years of age is he looking to continue his career elsewhere instead of Apple trying to do what they can to keep him there and retire there?
Not true. Look at IBM and Mercedes Benz. Those companies have been around a century, if not more. Ford as well. And those are just some examples.