After nine years as Apple’s senior director in platform architecture, Gerard Williams III, left the company in February of this year, according to a report from CNET.
During his time at Apple, Williams led the development of all Apple’s processors beginning with the A7, which was fitted into the older iPhone 5S models, to the company’s latest and greatest A12X chip, which is being used in the new iPad Pros. In recent years, CNET reports Williams’ role evolved “beyond leading the design of the custom CPU cores for Apple’s chips to overseeing the layout of the various parts of the system-on-a-chip, or SoC, inside the company’s mobile devices.”
Despite his recent departure, it’s likely Williams still played a part in the development of the next few products Apple will unveil later this year. It was also previously revealed that Apple may have plans of using its own chips in its Mac computers starting as early as 2020 to replace the current Intel processors being used, according to a report from Bloomberg. It’s possible Williams may have had a hand in that project, as well.
Before working at Apple, Williams was an employee at ARM for 12 years.
It’s currently unclear why Williams left the Cupertino-based company, and he has yet to make any official announcement regarding his next projects.
Key iOS Chip Architect Gerard Williams III Departs Apple https://t.co/TozWprx0X6 by @ic_apple pic.twitter.com/kaWITapzSF
— MacRumors.com (@MacRumors) March 30, 2019
Williams isn’t the only major Apple employee to have moved on in recent years. According to a report from MacRumors, Apple also lost its SoC team lead Manu Gulati, who was poached by Google in 2017.
It’s definitely been an interesting month for Apple. After releasing updates to several of its products last week, including its iMacs and AirPods, and unveiling its new streaming services during a star-studded event, the company announced the cancellation of one of its most highly anticipated accessories, as previously reported by The Inquisitr.
Apple has decided to cancel the release of its wireless charging mat, AirPower, citing the inability to meet company standards. Apple initially previewed the wireless charger during its September event in 2017, but after several delays, the company finally pulled the plug on the project.
Still, Apple remains “committed to pushing the wireless experience forward,” according to senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, Dan Riccio.
The company may have also had the design for its new iPhone leaked earlier this week, as also reported by The Inquisitr. While this hasn’t been confirmed, many believe the leaked schematics will definitely be Apple’s way of implementing its three-camera design for the iPhone XI.