Apple 's senior vice president of hardware engineering is transitioning to work on a "new project."- Dan Riccio will be replaced as SVP of hardware by John Ternus, who has been with Apple for 20 years.
- The announcement comes amid rumors that Apple is working on an electric vehicle.
Apple hardware chief Dan Riccio is stepping down from his role to transition to a new position as part of "a new project," Apple said in a press release on Monday. He will still report to CEO Tim Cook.
John Ternus will take over as the company's senior vice president of hardware engineering after acting as vice president since 2013. He joined the company's product design team in 2001, per the release, and oversaw the development of the iPhone 12 line.
"Every innovation Dan has helped Apple bring to life has made us a better and more innovative company, and we're thrilled that he'll continue to be part of the team," Cook said in the press release. "John's deep expertise and wide breadth of experience make him a bold and visionary leader of our Hardware Engineering teams."
Riccio has been at Apple since 1998, according to his LinkedIn profile, and played a role in the company's iPad hardware engineering. He took over as Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering after Bob Mansfield left the role in 2012.
Riccio's new role or the project he will be working on was not disclosed, but he will be a vice president of the engineering division moving forward, per Mac Rumors.
The job transition announcement comes as Apple is rumored to be working on an electric vehicle.
Reuters reported last month that Apple is aiming for a 2024 release date, and Bloomberg reported that timeline to be anywhere between 2025 and 2027. Experts say Tesla, Volkswagen, and Magna Steyr are the most automakers most likely to build Apple's electric car. Hyundai has said it was also in talks with the company to take on the project.