Ahead of next-gen AirPods, Apple's audio team welcomes a new maestro

Ahead of next-gen AirPods, Apple’s audio team welcomes a new maestro،

While the iPhone remains Apple's flagship product, accessories like AirPods have become increasingly crucial for the company. Reports report that AirPods generate approximately $15 billion in annual revenue for Apple and dominate the personal audio product market. As Apple develops new products in this segment, it has restructured the leadership of its audio product team.

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, insiders say Gary Geaves, Apple's current vice president of audio products, is hanging up his hat. In his place, Ruchir Davé, an Apple veteran since 2009, now takes the reins of the audio team, which has around 300 employees.

The team plays a central role in the development of Apple's AirPods and speaker businesses. It manages sound and microphone technologies, contributing to software features like spatial audio, a major selling point for AirPods, HomePods and the new Vision Pro headphones.

In December, Geaves underwent a role change to report directly to Matt Costello, the manager overseeing Beats and HomePod products. Geaves will remain at Apple as a consultant for the audio team while Costello will take charge of the product design group for accessories.

Those familiar with Apple's audio team believe Geaves has been considering retirement for some time. Moving to a consulting role is seen as a stepping stone towards this eventual exit.

Geaves joined Apple in 2011 after leading research at Bowers & Wilkins. Geaves played a key role in the development of the HomePod smart speaker which, despite a slow start in 2018, has gained momentum in recent years, particularly with more affordable models.

Geaves also led the overhaul of Apple's AirPods line over the past two years, with a focus on a complete redesign. The coming months should reveal the results of this effort as Apple prepares to launch the refreshed AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 3.

The acoustics team is actively exploring other new products, such as a wall-mounted smart display and an iPad-HomePod combo device.