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

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.

iPhone 15 General Feature Green
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.

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Top Rated Comments

jz0309 Avatar
21 months ago
employees come and go, at every level. Change can be a good thing ...
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tonywalker23 Avatar
21 months ago
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.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WiiDSmoker Avatar
21 months ago
This is what happens when Marketing runs the company.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Piggie Avatar
21 months ago
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? ;)
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dwaltwhit Avatar
21 months ago
Maybe an infusion of new talent will be refreshing!
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Spaceboi Scaphandre Avatar
21 months ago
This is our chance. Time to begin the subliminal messaging on the new hardware team to get the headphone jack back
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)