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.

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Vertical Camera Feature

iPhone SE 4 Rumored to Use Same Rear Chassis as iPhone 16

Friday July 19, 2024 7:16 am PDT by
Apple will adopt the same rear chassis manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 that it is using for the upcoming standard iPhone 16, claims a new rumor coming out of China. According to the Weibo-based leaker "Fixed Focus Digital," the backplate manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 is "exactly the same" as the standard model in Apple's upcoming iPhone 16 lineup, which is expected to...
iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Series Is Just Two Months Away: Everything We Know

Monday July 15, 2024 4:44 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
iphone 14 lineup

Cellebrite Unable to Unlock iPhones on iOS 17.4 or Later, Leak Reveals

Thursday July 18, 2024 4:18 am PDT by
Israel-based mobile forensics company Cellebrite is unable to unlock iPhones running iOS 17.4 or later, according to leaked documents verified by 404 Media. The documents provide a rare glimpse into the capabilities of the company's mobile forensics tools and highlight the ongoing security improvements in Apple's latest devices. The leaked "Cellebrite iOS Support Matrix" obtained by 404 Media...
tinypod apple watch

TinyPod Turns Your Apple Watch Into an iPod

Wednesday July 17, 2024 3:18 pm PDT by
If you have an old Apple Watch and you're not sure what to do with it, a new product called TinyPod might be the answer. Priced at $79, the TinyPod is a silicone case with a built-in scroll wheel that houses the Apple Watch chassis. When an Apple Watch is placed inside the TinyPod, the click wheel on the case is able to be used to scroll through the Apple Watch interface. The feature works...
bsod

Crowdstrike Says Global IT Outage Impacting Windows PCs, But Mac and Linux Hosts Not Affected

Friday July 19, 2024 3:12 am PDT by
A widespread system failure is currently affecting numerous Windows devices globally, causing critical boot failures across various industries, including banks, rail networks, airlines, retailers, broadcasters, healthcare, and many more sectors. The issue, manifesting as a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), is preventing computers from starting up properly and forcing them into continuous recovery...
Apple Watch Series 9

2024 Apple Watch Lineup: Key Changes We're Expecting

Tuesday July 16, 2024 7:59 am PDT by
Apple is seemingly planning a rework of the Apple Watch lineup for 2024, according to a range of reports from over the past year. Here's everything we know so far. Apple is expected to continue to offer three different Apple Watch models in five casing sizes, but the various display sizes will allegedly grow by up to 12% and the casings will get taller. Based on all of the latest rumors,...

Top Rated Comments

jz0309 Avatar
8 months ago
employees come and go, at every level. Change can be a good thing ...
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tonywalker23 Avatar
8 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
8 months ago
This is what happens when Marketing runs the company.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Piggie Avatar
8 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
8 months ago
Maybe an infusion of new talent will be refreshing!
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Spaceboi Scaphandre Avatar
8 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)