Longtime Apple Executive Dan Riccio Retiring Later This Month - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Longtime Apple Executive Dan Riccio Retiring Later This Month

Longtime Apple employee Dan Riccio is set to retire from the company later this month, reports Bloomberg. Riccio has worked at Apple for 26 years, most recently overseeing Vision Pro development as an engineering VP reporting to Apple CEO Tim Cook.

apple dan riccio
Riccio joined Apple in June 1998 as a product design director, and in August 2012, he was promoted to senior vice president of hardware engineering, a role he held for more than eight years before transitioning to an unspecified project in 2021. The unspecified project turned out to be the Vision Pro headset.

John Ternus succeeded Riccio as Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering, and Ternus will also now take over Vision Pro development and the couple thousand engineers in the Vision Products Group. Mike Rockwell, who has been working under Riccio, will continue to oversee the day-to-day work on the Vision Pro and similar headsets.

In addition to working on the Vision Pro, Riccio also was a key proponent for Apple's work on a self-driving car, a project that the company ultimately scrapped earlier this year. Over his time at Apple, he also oversaw development of the AirPods, iPad Pro, and the initial larger-screened iPhones.

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.4 Adds Two New Features to CarPlay

Tuesday March 24, 2026 1:55 pm PDT by
iOS 26.4 was released today, and it includes a couple of new features for CarPlay: an Ambient Music widget and support for voice-based chatbot apps. To update your iPhone 11 or newer to iOS 26.4, open the Settings app and tap on General → Software Update. CarPlay will automatically offer the new features so long as the iPhone connected to your vehicle is running iOS 26.4 or later....
Apple Business hero

Apple Unveils 'Apple Business' All-in-One Platform

Tuesday March 24, 2026 8:53 am PDT by
Apple today announced Apple Business, a new all-in-one platform that unifies device management, productivity tools, and customer outreach features. The service is designed to be a consolidated replacement for several of Apple's existing business-focused offerings, including Apple Business Essentials, Apple Business Manager, and Apple Business Connect. It provides organizations with a single...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Tuesday March 24, 2026 12:31 pm PDT by
Apple today released new firmware for the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and the AirPods 4. The firmware has a version number of 8B39, up from 8B34 on the AirPods Pro 3, 8B28 on the AirPods Pro 2, and 8B21 on the AirPods 4. There is no word on what's included in the firmware, but Apple has a support document with limited notes. Most updates are limited to bug fixes and performance...

Top Rated Comments

coffeemilktea Avatar
19 months ago

John Ternus succeeded Riccio as Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering, and Ternus will also now take over Vision Pro development and the couple thousand engineers in the Vision Products Group.
The year is 2034. The iPhone 27 is being introduced by John Ternus. He turns it over to the Apple Silicon team to explain the A28 Bionic Pro and the speaker is... John Ternus? The camera pans to the Apple Watch team. John Ternus. The macOS 25 team comes out: it's John Ternus. Apple Vision Pro 5, Ted Lasso season 14, the iPad Pro Ultra Mini Air ("isn't that just a regular iPad?" you think) all come out, presented by John Ternus.

You sigh, and close the lid on your 2033 M13 MacBook Air, and stare out the window. You see your tired reflection.

John Ternus stares back at you.
Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AndiG Avatar
19 months ago
I have the strong feeling that the longer the people work for Apple the more they start looking kind of Apple-ish. But maybe this is just a terrible photo.
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CWallace Avatar
19 months ago
Considering he got the Vision Pro out the door and it is (currently) the most advanced consumer VR and AR product on sale, why fire him?

It is not like he personally decided it should sell for $3500 nor was he in charge of the (lack of) marketing and promotion for it. That falls on Cook and Joswiak as CEO and SVP of Worldwide Marketing, respectively.

Clearly, he either is looking for new challenges or he is ready to retire and enjoy his money.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jaw04005 Avatar
19 months ago

And AirPower

"Riccio led the Mac ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh'), iPhone ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone'), iPad ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad'), iPod ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod'), Apple TV ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_TV'), HomePod ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HomePod'), AirPods ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirPods'), and Apple Watch ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Watch') engineering teams, which have produced numerous products."

He also was the in charge of the hardware team that made the original iPad under Steve Jobs.

I think his track record speaks for itself. Well deserved retirement.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mrkevinfinnerty Avatar
19 months ago

What would you define as the “Apple” look.
Open neck shirt, slightly greying, outstanding eyebrows
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Think|Different Avatar
19 months ago

I have the strong feeling that the longer the people work for Apple the more they start looking kind of Apple-ish. But maybe this is just a terrible photo.
The heck does this even mean? Sheesh, people, it's quite easy just to NOT comment on others' appearances.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)