Apple’s chip chief is now shaping how Apple’s future devices get made from the inside out. Johny Srouji spent years leading development of Apple’s custom silicon, including the A-series chips inside iPhones and the M-series chips powering Macs.
But after becoming Apple’s new Chief Hardware Officer, his influence suddenly stretches far beyond chips.
That shift is already changing Apple’s internal structure in ways that could directly affect the pace and direction of future hardware.
Reports suggest Srouji wants Apple’s chip engineers and product teams working far more closely together than before.
They want to move away from developing hardware and chips in isolation, only to scramble to make them fit together at the last minute.
Instead, Apple appears to be reorganizing around tighter coordination from the very beginning of product development.
What Actually Changed Inside Apple
Two relatively unknown executives are now overseeing product design across nearly every Apple device category.
Shelly Goldberg, who previously focused on Macs, and Dave Pakula, who worked on Apple Watch, iPad, and AirPods hardware, have stepped into broader leadership roles that Kate Bergeron previously handled.
Bergeron is not leaving Apple’s hardware division, though. She is moving into a company-wide role focused on product reliability and materials, which may sound less visible but carries enormous influence inside Apple.
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Material decisions affect everything from device weight and heat management to durability and battery life. Those choices increasingly matter as Apple pushes thinner devices, foldables, and more power-hungry AI features.
The Bigger Power Shift Happening Behind the Scenes
The timing of these moves matters because John Ternus is expected to become Apple’s next CEO on September 1.
As that transition approaches, several major hardware leaders are now being pulled closer into Srouji’s organization.
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Matt Costello, who oversees Apple’s home and audio products, and Kevin Lynch, who leads a robotics-focused special projects group, will reportedly begin reporting directly to Srouji.
This suggests Apple is reorganizing around faster hardware execution at a moment when the company faces pressure on multiple fronts, including AI devices, foldables, robotics, and increasingly complex chip development.
The larger message behind all of this is fairly clear: Apple believes the future of its hardware depends on designing the chip and the product as one unified system much earlier in the process.
