Apple VP Dan Riccio acquires new role in Apple’s AR/VR project

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After a big announcement of transitioning from SVP, Dan Riccio has acquired a new role.
Riccio has been assigned to oversee the team developing future Apple AR/VR headsets, it has been reported.
Johny Srouji also expands his role to work on “in-house displays and camera technology”.

Earlier this year, it was announced that Dan Riccio, former Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering at Apple, is going to hand over his role of SVP to John Ternus in order to be assigned a new role in an alleged ‘new project’. Today Bloomberg emerged with more details on this announcement stating that Riccio’s new role would be on Apple’s AR/VR headset project.

The report goes on to elaborate Riccio’s new role in the AR/VR high-end headset project. It states that Riccio is now focusing on “overseeing the team developing future Apple AR/VR headsets”.

Around last March, Riccio handed oversight of electrical engineering, product design and project management for the iPhone and most of Apple’s other major products to Ternus. After that shift, Riccio continued to oversee AR/VR work, the development of custom screens, testing and camera hardware.

This transition of Dan Riccio from SVP to a new designation for the AR/VR headset project at Apple became necessary since the company reportedly struck delays in the development of its first AR/VR headset. Insiders at Apple hope that Riccio’s hardware expertise will help move past those hindrances. However, the project is still being led by Mike Rockwell who is said to have a team of “well over a thousand engineers” working on Apple’s AR/VR headsets.

Riccio's move is similar to the approach taken last year by Phil Schiller, the company's former marketing chief. Both executives left senior roles but held on to areas that needed extra oversight. In Schiller's case, it was the App Store and public relations, and for Riccio, it’s the AR and VR headsets. This strategy helps keep key longtime executives at the company.

Moreover, Bloomberg’s report also states that Apple has informed staff about the transition of the group working on “in-house displays and camera technology” to Johny Srouji who is Apple’s Senior Vice President of Hardware Technologies.

The move suggests the company is getting closer to shipping its first devices with fully custom displays, replacing those from outside suppliers. Apple has a facility near its Silicon Valley headquarters developing MicroLED screens.

Apple’s first VR/AR headset is expected to be a pricey niche product. It was even reported last week that this headset will much likely be a mixed-reality headset containing a lot of high end features, and costing around $3000. These headsets are believed to be launched by 2022 before eventually launching a more mainstream AR glasses.

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Published to Apple Scoop on 9th February, 2021.