Johny Srouji (Apple)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Johny Srouji

• Johnny Srouji was born in Haifa to an Arab-Christian family living in the Wadi Nisnas neighbourhood.

• He grew up in a mixed community of Christians, Muslims, Jews and Baha’is living together in the city.

• After finishing his studies, he joined IBM as an engineer. His manager later recalled that Srouji completed complex tasks very fast and with high accuracy.

• In 1993, he joined Intel and worked in several chip development roles. In 1999, Intel sent him to Texas for a relocation assignment.

• He returned to IBM in 2005 in the United States to work in senior hardware engineering positions.

• In 2008, Apple recruited him soon after Steve Jobs decided the company must design its own silicon. His first major assignment was leading the development of the A4 chip used in the iPhone 4 and the first iPad.

• He was promoted to vice president of hardware technologies in 2014.

• In 2015, he became senior vice president of hardware technologies and joined Apple’s top leadership circle. Bloomberg reported that he played a major role in accelerating the development of the A9 chip by six months.

• He explained in 2016 that Haifa shaped his worldview and gave him confidence as an engineer. In the same period, he helped Apple decide to establish an R&D centre in Herzliya, Israel.

• He appointed his former Technion lecturer, Aharon Aharon, to lead Apple Israel’s operations. In 2017, public filings showed his annual compensation exceeded $24 million, making him one of Apple’s highest-paid executives.

• His name also appeared in discussions about potential candidates for the Intel CEO role, but he remained at Apple. Over the next decade, he led the development of Apple’s A-series chips for iPhones and M-series chips for Macs.

  

• Under his leadership, Apple shifted its Mac lineup away from Intel processors to Apple Silicon based on ARM technology.

• He also oversaw the development of Apple’s in-house cellular modem intended to reduce dependence on Qualcomm.

• In June 2020, he presented the Apple Silicon transition from a secure lab inside Apple Park during WWDC. He said the new processors would offer better performance, improved efficiency, longer battery life and stronger security.

• He added that the shift would allow the Mac to make a major technological leap. Industry leaders such as former Intel VP Molly Eden said Srouji played a major role in Apple’s move away from Intel.

• Bloomberg described him as one of Apple’s most important but less publicly visible executives. Colleagues said he is quiet, disciplined, extremely private and highly protective of Apple’s confidential projects.

• He maintains a strict security protocol and avoids discussing work even with close friends.

• In late 2024, multiple senior Apple executives announced their exits, including the head of AI, the design chief, the environment chief and the general counsel. The departures raised questions about stability within Apple’s top leadership.

• Rumours then appeared claiming that Srouji had informed CEO Tim Cook about considering a departure.

• In December 2025, Srouji addressed these rumours in an internal memo to all employees. He wrote that he loved his team and his job and did not plan to leave Apple.

• He added that employees should hear directly from him instead of relying on speculation. He said he was proud of the technologies his teams built across silicon, displays, sensors, cameras, batteries and other hardware areas.