Apple shakes up leadership in hardware team responsible for audio features on AirPods, Macs

Apple Inc. has made changes in its hardware team, which is responsible for audio features on AirPods, Macs, and other products. According to a report by Bloomberg, Gary Geaves, the vice president in charge of acoustics, is stepping down from his role and will be replaced by Ruchir Davé.

The hardware team, with approximately 300 employees, is instrumental to Apple’s growing AirPods and speaker businesses. The team also operates audio testing labs at Apple’s Silicon Valley offices.

This change in leadership adds to the recent changes at Apple’s hardware engineering group, run by John Ternus. Tang Tan, the vice president in charge of iPhone, Apple and AirPods product design, recently left the company.

Geaves, who joined Apple in 2011, will remain at the company as an adviser to Matt Costello. Apple is expected to roll out revamped models of AirPods in the coming months. AirPods bring in more than $15 billion a year for Apple, leading the personal audio products market. The acoustics team is also involved in exploring new products, such as a wall-mounted smart display and a combined iPad and HomePod device.