Apple display veterans take a step back as new leaders take over

Two executives who spent about three decades each at Apple are relinquishing responsibility for its displays, as part of a broader set of technical leadership changes reported by Apple. BloombergIt’s Mark Gurman.

Victor Yin now oversees much of Apple’s display development after years of preparation under Wei Chen and John Zhong. Chen and Zhong, each with about 30 years of experience at the company, are taking on more limited responsibilities as consultants. Gurman describes their eventual departures as part of a succession process that has been ongoing for several years.

Apple’s October promotions also include engineering leaders Rajesh Ambati, Louie Sanguinetti and Derek Shaeffer, who all became vice presidents. Their work covers connectivity hardware and software, with Sanguinetti’s contributions to wireless hardware dating back decades.

The appointments follow Apple’s decision to expand Johny Srouji’s role to Chief Hardware Officer, bringing hardware engineering and technologies under his leadership. A subsequent reorganization of product development sought to improve coordination between the teams that design Apple’s chips and devices.

Gurman also reports that some hardware program managers have been laid off in recent weeks as Srouji and CEO John Ternus removed layers of management. The cuts follow previous reports about Ternus’ efforts to accelerate product development and reduce the number of engineering and senior management positions.

Elsewhere at Apple, App Store head Carson Oliver was given the title of vice president, while Steve Smith took responsibility for business development. Both appointments were reported earlier this month.