Four weeks after taking office, John Ternus is intervening in Apple's restructuring. Fewer management levels, more products released throughout the year, frozen budgets – and the first jobs in hardware development have already been cut.
John Ternus has been leading Apple since September 1st, and the management team below him was restructured in the spring. Now it's becoming clear what he has planned for the company itself. Apple is to develop faster, bring more devices to market, and reduce bureaucracy between engineers and top management.
This information comes from a Bloomberg report citing several people familiar with the plans. The report was authored by Mark Gurman, whose accounts of Apple's organization and personnel have been consistently accurate in recent years. The report specifically documents one step that has already been implemented. The rest, according to the report, describes early considerations.
Key Facts at a Glance
- In its hardware development department, Apple has laid off several Engineering Program Managers within two weeks, including about half a dozen directors.
- Ternus plans to soften its fixed pattern of spring and autumn product releases and launch devices throughout the year.
- Some teams will have to reckon with frozen budgets and staffing levels; expected increases for 2027 will not take place.
- Together with Eddy Cue and CFO Kevan Parekh, Ternus is looking for new services and more revenue from existing offerings.
The first cut affects the coordinators
The affected employees are the so-called Engineering Program Managers, or EPMs for short. For decades, they have managed schedules and coordinated work between teams in Apple's hardware development. According to reports, Apple has laid off several of them in the past two weeks, including around six directors, one of the highest management levels in the company.
Those affected have a few weeks to find another position within Apple. Those who fail to do so will lose their jobs later this year. According to the report, employees expect further cuts in the coming months.
Layoffs are rare at Apple, but not new. In November 2025, sales positions were surprisingly affected, and in August, Apple cut around 200 jobs related to Vision Pro, Siri, and AI software. What is new is that the cuts are now affecting a function that forms the backbone of product development.
More devices, fewer fixed appointments
Apple has traditionally released most of its new products in the spring and fall. Ternus reportedly wants to move away from this approach and release devices more frequently throughout the year. According to reports, he justifies this by stating that Apple needs to become faster and more experimental in the age of AI.
The products mentioned in this context are AirPods with cameras, the first pair of glasses, and a completely new iPhone for its 20th anniversary. All three have been on the list of upcoming devices for some time. According to a source, product developers are currently being pressured to deliver more products at shorter intervals. The atmosphere is described as hectic.
Austerity measures in budgets and peripheral projects
Cost-cutting measures are underway. Budgets and staffing levels have been frozen for some teams. Departments that had expected more money and personnel for 2027 will not receive it. According to the report, Apple plans to invest more cautiously in projects outside its core business, including Siri, some AI software teams, and Vision Pro, whose successor, codenamed N224, was recently considered to be at risk.
Apple reportedly abandoned a plan in the summer to replace around 5,000 AppleCare customer service positions with AI agents.
On the revenue side, Ternus, with its services chief Eddy Cue and CFO Kevan Parekh, is working on new services and on generating more revenue from existing products. According to the report, this is due to a slowdown in growth in the services business. Ternus had already identified significant expansion potential in its services division back in April.
A course that Ternus has been pursuing for years
The restructuring didn't come out of nowhere. According to reports, Ternus, now 51, had already advocated for a leaner organization when he was head of hardware development. At an employee meeting, he showed a slide with the annual staff growth and argued that Apple should hire fewer people and achieve more with the existing engineers.
In April, however, the expectation was that Ternus wouldn't overhaul Apple, but would primarily implement decisions made under Cook during his first few years. These two scenarios only partially align. The devices mentioned in the report were already under discussion before he took office. What will change is the pace at which Apple ships them and the organization that builds them.
Fewer levels, shorter time signatures
I consider the dismissal of the program managers the most revealing detail of the report. Ternus is eliminating precisely the role that has ensured Apple meets deadlines – while simultaneously demanding shorter product release cycles. This can accelerate development because decisions reach the top more quickly. However, it shifts the coordination burden to engineers and executives, who are already expected to deliver more.
For consumers, a discontinued release calendar would have a tangible consequence. The rule of thumb that new Macs, iPads, and accessories are primarily released in spring and autumn would become less reliable. Those who wait for the next release date before making a purchase would then have to rely more often on individual reviews than on the season.
Apple's transformation begins beneath the surface
Outwardly, little will change for the time being. The devices expected in October were already in production, and the first cutbacks affect a level that customers never see.
Would you prefer to receive new Apple devices more frequently throughout the year – or do you appreciate the fixed release dates because you can plan your purchases accordingly? Let us know in the comments how you handle it.
