On April 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 26, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 26, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, He's the engineer behind the Vision Pro and the manager of almost all of Apple's heavyweight hardware in the last 15 years。

It's the first time in 15 years that apples have changed handsome. The signal widely read is "hardware return". But the internal structure of the hardware is much more complex than this label. On the same day Apple announced a new lookout, another appointment was issued: Johnny Srouge, Head of Chip Engineering, will replace John Turners as Chief Hardware Officer。

Turners has been working on apples for over 25 years, leading engineering designs for iPhone, Mac, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods and Vision Pro. His replacement was read out as a "hardware return" signal. But at the same time that Turner became CEO, he transferred the day-to-day management of hardware engineering. He was leading the strategic direction of software, AI, services and apples as a whole. The four things he never led in 25 years。

Inside the hardware kingdom, it's not flat

Looking back at the 25-year apple career of Turner, the world's first thought of his recent performance is probably "Vision Pro Failed". But his mistake was earlier。

Turner was a key supporter of MacBook Pro Touch Bar. The touchbar key introduced in 2016 was quietly abandoned by the apple in 2021. He was also deeply involved in the promotion of the butterfly keyboard. The design of the keyboard, which is known for its thinness and for its failure, triggered a collective consumer action that was eventually replaced by the Apple Line. The cost of both failures is borne by the reputation of the user and the apple。

Vision Pro is third. According to IDC data, in 2024, apples delivered approximately 390,000 units, which is below the previous analyst ' s estimate of about 600,000 units, with a compliance rate of about 65 per cent. In 2025, the volume dropped further to less than 90,000, and apples subsequently cut production and UBP stopped the production line. A product with a start-up price of $3499, defined as "the entrance to the space computing age", ended up with all the moves from publication to fading in two years。

The side in the pledge also deserves to be seen alone。

The first is Apple Silicon transition. In November 2020, with the release of the M1 chip, Apple launched the project to migrate from the Intel architecture as a whole to a self-research processor, with Turners as the core pusher. According to the Apple Annual Report, the Mac battalion received an unusual outbreak for two years after the release of the M1, and according to Apple Annual Report, the FY2021 increased by 23 per cent, the FY2022 continued to grow by 14 per cent, reaching a historic peak of $40.2 billion in fiscal year 2022。

It opens up the possibility of a vertical integration chip design for apples and actually frees Mac from the Intel production rhythm. The second is AirPods. During his time as Vice-President, he had made clothing items from the edge of the apple line a pillar of over $30 billion a year. It's the third big class that apples actually hit in consumer electronics after iPhone and Mac。

There is a rule in this report card: he was placed in the category of matures with a decisive technology (M1 for Mac, AirPods for wireless audio). He was wrong to try to define a completely new computing paradigm with hardware. Touch Bar wants to redefine keyboard interaction, failed. Vision Pro wants to define spatial calculations, failed。

Apple, on the other hand, looks at hardware as a whole, but the story inside the hardware is much more complicated than "iPhone is good for sale." According to the Apple Annual Report, in the fiscal year 2020 to 2025, the four main categories of hardware work in Tennessee have come out of a very different curve. The iPhone, which maintains rule, has steadily increased from $13.78 billion to $20.96 billion over six years, but at a slower pace。

Mac, having experienced a real outbreak of M1, and then a sudden fall of SY2023, fell by almost 27 per cent, then slowly recovered and has not yet returned to its peak. Wearables rose from 30.6 billion to a peak of 41.2 billion and then fell back to 35.7 billion, crossing the growth point. The iPad was the most silent line, with 26.7 billion to 31.9 billion in six years, without any structural explosion。

iPhone held on to inertia. The real structural explosion was just two years under M1. Now he's going to give the hardware work to Sluggy and take care of the apple himself。

Cook left the bill

The apples that Turners took over had a very different financial structure than 15 years ago。

ACCORDING TO THE APPLE ANNUAL REPORT (10-K), SERVICE INCOME ROSE FROM $19.9 BILLION IN 2015 TO $109.2 BILLION IN 2025, WITH A COMPOUND INCREASE OF MORE THAN 18 PER CENT PER YEAR, RISING FROM 8.5 PER CENT TO 26.3 PER CENT OF TOTAL RECEIPTS. DURING THE SAME PERIOD, INCOME FROM PRODUCTS INCREASED FROM 21.39 BILLION TO 307.0 BILLION, BUT THEIR SHARE WAS REDUCED FROM 91.5 PER CENT TO LESS THAN 74 PER CENT. COOK COMPLETELY RESHAPED THE PROFIT LOGIC OF A HARDWARE COMPANY IN 15 YEARS, RELYING ON SERVICE。

This remodels with a clear digital footnote. According to the Annual Apple Report, in 2017 the rate of Māori was about 55 per cent for Apple Services and 34.2 per cent for Products. By the fiscal year 2025, the service Māori rate had risen to 75 per cent, and the product Māori rate had remained essentially static at 36.8 per cent, with the gap increasing to 38.2 percentage points. The contribution of Māori is about 38 cents higher each time apples switch from product to service。

THIS IS A BAD PAIR OF SCISSORS, AND IT WON'T SHRINK BECAUSE OF THE CEO. IF TURNERS RE-DIRECTS RESOURCES TOWARDS HARDWARE, THE PRODUCT MĀORI RATE IS CLOSE TO 37 PER CENT, WHICH IS NOT LOW PER SE, BUT THE INCREASE IN SPACE IS ALMOST ENTIRELY DEPENDENT ON PRODUCT PREMIUMS RATHER THAN STRUCTURAL MIGRATION. IT'S NOT A CHOICE。

ANOTHER DETAIL WAS IGNORED BY MOST OF THE REPORTS. COOK'S OUT OF THE CEO WHILE HE'S GOING TO BE THE CEO OF APPLE. THIS IS NOT AN HONORARY POSITION. EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS USUALLY RETAIN SUBSTANTIVE INFLUENCE ON STRATEGIC DIRECTION, PARTICIPATE IN MAJOR DECISION-MAKING AND REPRESENT THE INTERESTS OF COMPANIES AT THE POLITICAL AND INDUSTRY LEVELS. THE CURRENT NON-EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, ARTHUR LEVINSON, WILL BE CONCURRENTLY CONVERTED TO CHIEF INDEPENDENT DIRECTOR。

This is not the way Jobs left after resigning in 2011. Cook will stay on board。

The style of Turners is described as calm, focused, easy to reach, building influence through product outcomes rather than personal images, similar to Cook. This similarity is a stabilizing factor during the transition period, but it also means that the "clean-back" route of the market’s expectations is not in the playbook of the bar。

The apple that Turners took over, the last time he answered, "What's the next platform?" was a $3499 head monitor. Less than 90,000 units were delivered and production ceased。