Apple's audio department leadership is getting shuffled

An executive departure has prompted Apple to swap leadership roles for the team responsible for audio features on Apple hardware.

Gary Geaves, the Vice President in charge of acoustics, has stepped down from his role. He held the position since October 2019, but has been involved in Apple's audio department for over a decade.

For the last two years, Geaves worked on an overhaul to the AirPods lineup, with the first updates expected to roll out this year.

According to sources who spoke to Bloomberg, he will be replaced by his top deputy Ruchir Dave. Geaves will stay on at Apple as an advisor as he prepares to retire.

In December, it was learned that Tang Tan, Apple's vice president of product design, would be leaving the company in February. Tan was responsible for making critical decisions about many of Apple's products and had substantial influence over the design of iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods products.

Steve Hotelling, an Apple executive responsible for innovative technologies used in iPhone, iPad, and even Apple Vision Pro, was reported to retire from Apple that same month.