Apple hardware chief John Ternus, who is in line to become the company's next CEO, is weighing changes to how often the company releases new products, Bloomberg reports. Ternus has signaled that Apple needs to bring products to market faster and take more risks to stay competitive in the artificial intelligence era. Any shift in that direction would not come immediately, given Apple's long-standing approach to product development.
Apple has traditionally held its iPhone launch events in September and has often introduced other products later in the year and during the spring. Under the rumored approach, that cadence could change. Apple is said to have a large number of products in development, including a new HomePod Mini, an iPad Mini, an Apple TV 4K, AirPods with cameras, touchscreen MacBooks, and a special iPhone marking the device's 20th anniversary.
Ternus is also looking at flattening the organization by cutting the number of management layers between engineers and senior executives. Over the past two weeks, the hardware engineering team let go of a number of engineering program managers, according to Bloomberg. Those reductions follow recent layoffs on Apple's Siri and Vision Pro teams that Bloomberg reported on in August.
Apple also weighed eliminating 5,000 AppleCare customer service positions, but the company ultimately put those plans on hold, Bloomberg says. The reported deliberations come as Apple faces pressure to move faster on artificial intelligence, an area where rivals have pushed ahead aggressively. Apple has not confirmed any of the organizational or product plans described in the report.
For US consumers, the potential changes could affect when new iPhones, iPads, Macs, and accessories reach the market, as well as how quickly Apple responds to AI features from competing platforms. A faster and more experimental product cycle would mark a departure from the predictable annual schedule Apple has followed for years. The company has not announced any timeline for the reported internal review.
The Verge published its report on September 29, 2026.
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