Apple's Hardware Engineering Group Faces Restructuring as iPhone Product Design VP Departs

[MacRumors]

Apple vice president of iPhone and Apple Watch product design Tang Tan is departing the company in a move that will lead to changes in the hardware engineering group, reports Bloomberg. Tan, who reports to Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering John Ternus, is set to leave Apple in February.

Tan's exit from the company will see several employees that work under Ternus and Tan receiving expanded roles. Head of iPhone product design Richard Dinh will take over iPhone development for Tan and will report directly to Ternus, while Mac hardware engineering vice president Kate Bergeron will handle Apple Watch design.

Tan also oversaw accessory design and the acoustics team that develops the AirPods, with those two groups being handed over to Matthew Costello, the former chief operating officer of Beats. Costello is in already in charge of Beats and the HomePod.

Apple employees that spoke to Bloomberg have called Tan's departure "a blow" because he is responsible for making critical decisions about the iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods. His team has control over product features and design.

News of Tan's departure comes just a few days after Bloomberg reported that Steve Hotelling, an Apple hardware VP, is set to retire. Hotelling leads the camera engineering team and has worked on Face ID, Touch ID, haptic feedback, ProMotion, and other key Apple technologies.

Article Link: Apple's Hardware Engineering Group Faces Restructuring as iPhone Product Design VP Departs

 

[chfilm]

☹️🫠 not great

 

[JoEw]

Will be a real test of Apple's internal culture to see if these shuffles have a negative effect on product delivery. I'm sure the product pipeline is a years out but execution is critical.

 

[tonywalker23]

I was a part-time specialist at a new store opening in 2010 making $9 an hour, hoping to be full-time, and left after a year… but still walk in there occasionally thinking "I miss this place…"

I can’t imagine what it feel like to be so high up and influential at a company and walk away from it.

 

[dwaltwhit]

Maybe an infusion of new talent will be refreshing!

 

[jz0309]

employees come and go, at every level. Change can be a good thing ...

 

[WiiDSmoker]

This is what happens when Marketing runs the company.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

This is our chance. Time to begin the subliminal messaging on the new hardware team to get the headphone jack back

 

[newyorksole]

I was a part-time specialist at a new store opening in 2010 making $9 an hour, hoping to be full-time, and left after a year… but still walk in there occasionally thinking "I miss this place…"

I can’t imagine what it feel like to be so high up and influential at a company and walk away from it.

right? I worked in two different stores over 10 years and really really wish I knew what it was like to be so high up and be in those meetings, making those decisions etc.

must’ve been super interesting. when I left both stores I was like damn… can’t believe it.

 

[Piggie]

Pretty sure I'd be able to handle this role.
My ideas for next years iPhone are a slightly better camera, might throw on another button, and I'll tweak the internals so they are 3% faster in selected benchmarks, and it will be "The best iPhone we've ever made"

Have I got the job?

 

[erikkfi]

This is our chance. Time to begin the subliminal messaging on the new hardware team to get the headphone jack back

But then how will they sell AirPods?

 

[twocents]

That’s a tang shame.

One challenge with hiring and recruitment is you can quickly make up for the difference in headcount, but the institutional knowledge and decision-making is much harder to replace.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

But then how will they sell AirPods?

...by selling AirPods? I mean the AirPods already sell themselves lmao.

 

[Pindabaas]

Guess they asked Dall-e to draw the next iPhone and it got the job.

 

[kiensoy]

Time for Tim to start designing.

 

[missingar]

I was a part-time specialist at a new store opening in 2010 making $9 an hour, hoping to be full-time, and left after a year… but still walk in there occasionally thinking "I miss this place…"

I can’t imagine what it feel like to be so high up and influential at a company and walk away from it.

I did the same from 2008 to 2009 and walked away because our middle aged manager who peaked in mall retail was an insufferable [you fill in the blank].

 

[Kierkegaarden]

Apple has a deep bench. I’m sure they have a contingency plan for any executive leaving.

 

[kenypowa]

Pretty sure I'd be able to handle this role.
My ideas for next years iPhone are a slightly better camera, might throw on another button, and I'll tweak the internals so they are 3% faster in selected benchmarks, and it will be "The best iPhone we've ever made"

Have I got the job?

Yes, please show up to work next Monday. You may be overqualified for the role but we at Apple like to take risks.

 

[DownUnderDan]

Apple has a deep bench. I’m sure they have a contingency plan for any executive leaving.

Umm...

 

[erikkfi]

...by selling AirPods? I mean the AirPods already sell themselves lmao.

Don't tell me you believe it's a coincidence that AirPods and the removal of the headphone jack happened around the same time.

 

[God of Biscuits]

This is what happens when Marketing runs the company.

Tan is a designer who apparently has "tight control" over both design AND engineering of all those products. So I'm not sure how the conclusion is that marketing is running the show. FWIW Jobs didn't separate the idea of marketing something from its usefulness to people. so in that sense, marketing did and didn't run the company while he was there.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

Don't tell me you believe it's a coincidence that AirPods and the removal of the headphone jack happened around the same time.

Maybe it is maybe it isn't. It's possible the headphone jack was removed for another reason like fitting in a bigger battery. All I know is they got rid of it, it was a stupid move, and it should come back especially as wired headphones especially hifi ones are becoming popular again

 

[God of Biscuits]

Don't tell me you believe it's a coincidence that AirPods and the removal of the headphone jack happened around the same time.

No one ever said it was. AirPods and other bluetooth headphones made it practical to reclaim the space inside. AirPods in particular made the user experience better than wired when multiple devices were involved.

 

[JaimiesPlace]

But then how will they sell AirPods?

Guys hear me out... Magsafe headphones, just buy them and use them on magsafe iphones.. for a price ofcours!

 

[t0rqx]

But then how will they sell AirPods?

accessory wifi to 3.5mm for $99