Apple tends to bunch its biggest product announcements into a few familiar periods each year. New CEO John Ternus reportedly wants to shorten the gaps between them and put new hardware in front of customers more often.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Ternus has been discussing ways to shorten the path from development to launch while giving Apple’s hardware teams more freedom to try new product categories. Product teams are already being asked to shorten development cycles, although employees reportedly expect any major change to Apple’s launch process to happen gradually.
Apple has no shortage of new hardware ideas
Apple already has several products in development that could support a busier launch calendar. Smart glasses have become a bigger priority as Apple scales back parts of its original Vision Pro strategy. The company has cut jobs from the Vision organization while continuing work on future headset concepts. Camera-equipped AirPods are also reportedly in development, potentially using visual sensors to feed environmental information into Apple’s AI features.
Apple has also been prototyping a screenless fitness band that could sit alongside the Apple Watch, although a commercial release has yet to be decided. Of course, the rumored smart glasses and a redesigned iPhone marking the device’s 20th anniversary are also on the list.
Moving faster also means running a tighter operation
Ternus reportedly wants fewer management layers between engineers and senior leadership, and Apple has already started cutting some engineering program manager roles that traditionally helped coordinate work across teams.
The push for a leaner operation comes as Apple faces higher costs across its hardware business. Rising memory and storage prices have already contributed to price increases across Macs, iPads, the Vision Pro, HomePod, and Apple TV hardware. Bloomberg says Apple is still absorbing some of the added component costs instead of passing the full increase on to customers, which could put additional pressure on margins.
Apple has also raised prices for Apple Music, Apple TV, select Apple One plans, and AppleCare+ in recent months. The broader financial pressure may help explain why Ternus is trying to keep costs under tighter control while pushing Apple to get more products to market.
