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Apple Acoustics VP Leaves Role, AirPods and HomePod Audio Team Gets New Leadership

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The team responsible for audio at Apple will soon undergo leadership changes due to the departure of longtime acoustics vice president Gary Geaves, reports Bloomberg. Geaves is stepping down from his role, though he will be replaced with "top deputy" Ruchir Davé.

airpods january
Apple's acoustics group has approximately 300 members that have developed audio technology for the AirPods, HomePods, and other Apple devices. The team was responsible for creating spatial audio, the 3D sound feature that has been built into AirPods, the Vision Pro, and other devices.

AirPods product designer Tang Tan was overseeing the acoustic team under John Ternus, but he started preparing to leave Apple back in December. Since then, the acoustics team has been reporting to Matt Costello, who oversees the HomePod and Beats headphones.

Geaves joined Apple in 2011 from Bowers & Wilkins, and Bloomberg says he will be staying on at Apple as an advisor to Costello as he prepares to retire. Over the course of the last two years, Geaves has been working on an overhaul to the AirPods lineup, and the first updates are expected this year.

Rumors suggest we will see AirPods 4 and new AirPods Max this year, with revamped AirPods Pro to follow in 2025.

Top Rated Comments

KENESS Avatar
KENESS
28 months ago
I suspect the timing is because the revised AirPod lineup is finished. (Internally, at least, they're likely about done.) He probably decided wrapping up the revamp would be his last big to-do before retiring, and now that that is done, he's ready to call it a day at Apple.

The older I get, the more respect I have for people retiring. They've put in a good long life into their career, it's time to just do whatever the eff they want.

Edit: grammar
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
C
citysnaps
28 months ago

Geaves joined Apple in 2011 from Bowers & Wilkins, and Bloomberg says he will be staying on at Apple as an advisor to Costello as he prepares to retire.
A huge hat-tip Mr. Geaves for all of the outstanding audio projects he's lead at Apple over the years. I'm happy he'll be sticking around as an advisor.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
anshuvorty Avatar
anshuvorty
28 months ago
EVERYONE IS LEAVING!!! PANIC!!!

APPLE IS DOOMED!!!

/s
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Nautilus007 Avatar
Nautilus007
28 months ago
hopefully overhaul is more than just a feature bump and Apple actually starts designing again rather than just milking consumers.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bigandtasty Avatar
bigandtasty
28 months ago
Lot of turnover lately. Hopefully for the better.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
P
poematik13
28 months ago

Lot of turnover lately. Hopefully for the better.
Veterans are cashing out and retiring. Stock is at all time high, there's no competition, they've already beat and conquered almost every applicable market. Nothing left to do or innovate for. Might as well sell the top and go home.

The last 2 things they can try iphone-ing is cars (tesla already did it kinda) and healthcare. Maybe AI with a siri reboot. After that, it's gonna be a slow decline into boring b2b stuff the way IBM slowly died
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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