Apple CEO John Ternus pushes software chief to accelerate AI roadmap

Apple Chief Executive Officer John Ternus met privately with his software chief in recent weeks to demand a faster roadmap for software releases. Ternus succeeded Tim Cook as chief executive in September 2026 after 25 years at Apple, where he ran hardware development and oversaw several iPhone generations. He pressed Federighi to go beyond incremental Siri updates and described Apple’s slower AI adoption compared with rivals as frustrating.

Apple has neither confirmed the meeting nor verified the reported discussion. Federighi holds the post of senior vice president for software engineering at Apple and became its AI czar last year after the previous AI leader was dismissed.

9to5Mac reported that Federighi takes part directly in meetings and major decisions, argues against opposing views with his technical knowledge, and treats an internal succession plan as a very low priority. Some software engineers and designers say his approach gives them little say over product direction, and the company has done little work to map out a clear replacement path.

The software organization under Federighi works on a 12- to 18-month window even as hardware teams plan years out, a gap that has led to delays or less ambitious initial product versions.

Ternus wants software releases to line up with multi-year strategic roadmaps, so AI architectures stay in sync with future hardware. He has told people inside Apple that the company must ship products faster and experiment more to remain competitive in AI.

Apple is trying out a development pipeline in which engineers receive 50% more time for writing code and exploring ideas and less time for integration, since coding agents have improved. Engineers receive more time to code and explore before integration for the initial iOS 28 development milestone. Apple employees say they like the pipeline change because it creates more time for ideas before things are locked in.

The rebuilt Siri arrived as a beta in September with personal context, screen awareness, and the ability to act in apps, though these changes mainly respond to user-initiated commands. Apple is studying whether Siri can become a more autonomous AI agent that pursues a goal and moves tasks forward without a new instruction at each step, though it has not announced an autonomous Siri or set a release date and final feature list.

A future autonomous Siri would raise concerns over privacy, permissions, and how much authority it has to act for an iPhone owner, and the iOS 28 development milestone change does not determine which AI features will be released. Ternus called agentic AI abilities promising during a recent earnings call, even as Federighi has been viewed as an AI skeptic worried about privacy, security, societal, and employment effects.

Rival AI services are moving away from simple question answering toward handling complex tasks, which raises the stakes, while Apple is deciding how quickly to turn its privacy-focused software and devices into an AI platform. The clearest near-term test for customers is whether current and developing Siri features prove reliable and useful in everyday work.

Mike Rockwell, Apple’s vice president for Siri engineering and the creator of the Vision Pro headset, led development of the rebuilt Siri and is still seriously considering stepping down from his role or leaving Apple altogether next year.

Word of a possible Rockwell departure in 2027 first surfaced in April. Reports say he is upset about not getting enough credit for fixing Apple’s digital assistant. He led Vision Pro before requesting and receiving the Siri AI reins, and his delivery of the new Siri came after an embarrassing two-year delay.

No departure has been announced for Rockwell, and there is no sign Federighi is preparing to leave; Federighi has not said he intends to leave Apple.

If Rockwell leaves, Amar Subramanya, a veteran of Google hired last year, and Sebastien Marineau, a deputy to Federighi, would likely take on more responsibility. Marineau now leads teams integrating AI into iOS, and some employees consider him a possible eventual successor to Federighi, though succession is distant.

Ternus is weighing a broad overhaul to sharpen engineering focus, release products more frequently, and build a leaner organization. Early ideas include dropping the traditional spring and fall release cycle, cutting some middle-management jobs to shorten the distance between engineers and top executives, and looking for new revenue sources and more value from current products.

Cost-cutting is already under way. Apple’s hardware engineering group has trimmed engineering program-management jobs, hitting several program managers and about half a dozen directors, and the company made big cuts in Siri, Vision Pro, and AI software engineering teams, with some reductions tied to performance.

Ternus has explored using AI to speed up product development and automate tasks currently handled by employees. Apple typically holds major events in June and September, including a developers conference for software and a fall event for iPhones and devices. It recently entered the foldable phone market, selling the Duo iPhone for $1,999.

Apple did not immediately reply to a request for comment from Reuters.

"When we design the product, we're looking at how can we make the best version of each and every product."

John Ternus, Yahoo Tech