Tang Tan, the Vice President of Product Design at Apple responsible for overseeing the design of iPhones and Apple Watches, will be leaving the company in February.
Insiders at Apple, as disclosed to Bloomberg, report that the exit of a pivotal team member, identified as Tan, has delivered a notable setback to the company’s design team. Tan played a crucial role in making key decisions regarding Apple’s flagship products and exerted considerable influence on the design of other products, including the Apple Watch and AirPods.
Tan’s role in Apple
Tan’s team exercised stringent oversight over product features, encompassing the aesthetics and engineering of devices. Notably, Tan played a pivotal role in elevating AirPods and the Apple Watch into significant growth contributors for Apple. Following Tan’s departure in February 2024, the company has undertaken substantial restructuring of its key product lines. Tan directly reported to John Ternus, serving as the Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering.
Who will assume Tan’s position?
Apple’s hardware engineering team is set to experience a reorganization with the departure of Rico Zorkendorfer, the current Vice President of Engineering. Zorkendorfer presently reports to John Ternus, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering. Following Zorkendorfer’s exit, his responsibilities will be distributed among other team members.
Richard Dinh, a member of Zorkendorfer’s team and the current leader of iPhone product design, is poised to assume a broader role and will now directly report to Ternus. Meanwhile, Kate Bergeron, presently at the helm of the Mac hardware engineering team, will transition to oversee the design aspects of the Apple Watch.
The report implies that Apple might be gearing up for additional leadership alterations in the upcoming year, given recent promotions of other executives in Mac product design and iPhone hardware.
Tan’s exit marks the second notable departure of a key executive to make headlines. Earlier this week, it was disclosed that Steve Hotelling, who played a crucial role in key technologies such as the iPhone’s multitouch screen, Touch ID, and Face ID, is retiring from Apple.
In 2019, Jony Ive, the chief designer at Apple who had contributed to significant products, including iPhones, for three decades, departed from the company.