Apple's new chief executive John Ternus has moved to reshape the iPhone maker just weeks after taking office, aiming to speed up product development, broaden the device lineup, and build a leaner, more engineering-focused organization, according to people familiar with the matter.

Ternus has discussed the plans internally with colleagues. Initial ideas include reducing reliance on the traditional spring and fall product launch cycles and eliminating some middle-management positions to cut the number of management layers between engineers and executives.

Ternus believes that in the AI era, Apple must ship products faster and take bolder bets in product development in order to stay competitive.

People familiar with the matter said the company has already launched cost-cutting measures. With growth in the services business slowing, Ternus is also looking for new revenue sources and ways to extract more revenue from existing products.

Apple plans to launch a large number of new products next year, including AirPods with cameras, its first smart glasses, and a redesigned iPhone marking the 20th anniversary of the iPhone.

Ternus is also considering adjusting the timing of product launches. For most of the past decade, Apple's product and engineering teams have organized their work around a big fall event, with occasional spring launches. Ternus wants the company to release products more frequently, not just in spring and fall but at any time of the year. Employees said, however, that changing Apple's long-established development approach will not be easy and could take years.

Ternus, 51, has advocated for a leaner organization for years. While overseeing hardware engineering, he said at an all-hands meeting that Apple should hire less, have existing engineers take on more work, and cut organizational redundancy. He also showed a chart of annual headcount growth and argued the company should accomplish more with fewer employees. This philosophy is similar to the fast-paced cultures of Silicon Valley companies such as Meta and Google, and it has begun to take hold inside Apple.

Over the past two weeks, Apple's hardware engineering division has begun cutting some engineering project managers (EPMs). The role has been central to Apple's product development process for decades, managing timelines and coordinating work across teams. The changes affected several project managers, including about six director-level employees, a relatively senior rank within Apple. These employees were given only a few weeks to find other roles internally. Those who fail to find new positions will be laid off later this year.

Such layoffs were once uncommon at Apple, but they have become increasingly frequent in recent months. Apple is said to have carried out small-scale layoffs across multiple teams and to have scaled back or canceled projects at earlier stages of product development, especially those deemed to contribute little to profit.

The related actions at Apple's campus include sharply reducing staff in the Siri, Vision Pro headset, and AI-related software engineering teams, with some of the adjustments tied to employee performance. Apple also recently made small cuts to the Fitness+ team, which had been developing an audio-only version of fitness classes.

In addition, Ternus is studying how to use AI to speed up product development and take over some work currently done by employees. This summer, Apple drafted a plan to consider cutting about 5,000 AppleCare customer service staff, including many who work from home. The plan was based on the judgment that improved AI phone and web agents could take over some of their work. But the company ultimately shelved the plan and is not currently preparing to take such a step. Still, many employees believe further layoffs may come later this year or early next year.

Several divisions, when doing early planning for 2027, had originally considered the possibility of higher budgets and headcount. In some divisions, however, planned budget increases were revised down, while headcount was kept flat year over year. Other teams were also asked to cut marketing spending.

A memory chip shortage affecting the entire industry has pushed up the cost of key components. Apple has offset higher costs through price increases, but it does not want consumers to leave because prices are too high, so at least for now it has chosen to absorb some of the costs itself.

Managers in the product development division are already feeling the pressure from the faster pace. One person familiar with the matter said: "Everything now requires more hands-on involvement than before, and it is very chaotic right now." That person, along with other people familiar with the matter, said managers in product development teams are being asked to launch more products in shorter cycles and at a higher frequency.

As Apple's services growth slows and the App Store's business model comes under pressure, Ternus, along with services chief Eddy Cue and Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh, are also looking for new ways to increase revenue. They have discussed launching new services and generating more revenue from existing products and services. Meanwhile, cost cutting will continue. For the upcoming company holiday party, some teams have been told that, for the first time in years, employees will no longer be allowed to bring guests.