Craig Federighi isn't going anywhere, but Apple needs him to change

New reports suggest Apple's CEO John Ternus held a meeting with software chief Craig Federighi, to discuss changing up software development and expanding the software roadmap beyond 18 months.

This potential major shakeup of Apple's software group could be a much-needed change for the company, as it seems to ship increasingly buggy software each year and is undoubtedly behind on AI.

But the man at the top, Craig Federighi, who has led Apple software for over 14 years, might not be going anywhere quite yet.

Buggy Software

Apple has long been known as the company that ships reliable, polished products to consumers. This still stands on the hardware side, but over the past couple of years the company has been let down by its software.

Since iOS 18 in 2024, Apple's software has changed dramatically. 18 introduced Apple Intelligence, 26 unveiled a whole new glassy design for Apple's operating systems, and 27 finally introduced Siri AI.

Despite these major advancements, users are consistently complaining about the software bugs. These issues range from cosmetic design quirks of the operating system, to operational issues such as on the iPhone 18 Pro last month where a software bug could cause the device to freeze and shut down.

I have personally experienced these bugs, especially on macOS 27, despite the promise at WWDC26 that Apple had focused on polish, fixes and performance upgrades with this version.

Craig Federighi is increasingly facing criticism

As a result of these bugs, Federighi is facing criticism and doubts whether he should stay in the role. Consumers are increasingly desperate for Apple to slow down with new features, and focus on a release that polishes the existing capabilities of the operating system instead.

Many now believe this will only be achieved if there is a new leader, who can recognise these faults and address them. Federighi has never publicly addressed the increased number of bugs in Apple's software, but must have encountered them as an Apple user himself.

This has led many to make the painful decision of calling for Craig Federighi to go, despite his status as one of Apple's most popular executives.

He is known for his popular stunts in the WWDC keynote, which often become one of the most talked-about parts of the event itself and was even referred to as "the fun uncle" by a user on X.

On the other side however, popular YouTuber Tech God posted on X:

Honestly reading this, I think it further cements my belief that Craig Federighi needs to leave or step down from his role. I firmly believe he’s holding Apple’s software back. Especially since Apple’s hardware is so far ahead, but the software holds it back.

In response to a Bloomberg article about Apple's software chief.

This consensus was met with agreement, with one person replying that Apple software has not been good since 2020, and another user said that they strongly agree with this, despite him being "cool at events and stuff".

Apple just gave Federighi more responsibilities

Despite calls for him to go, Apple recently expanded his job role with more responsibilities. In 2025, he took over leadership of AI at Apple, following a somewhat disastrous tenure of former AI chief John Giannandrea, where he failed to release the overhauled version of Siri on time.

Just a year later, Apple managed to release Siri AI - an all-new version of Siri, with personal context, onscreen awareness and increased capabilities. This shows Federighi can deliver on AI, which may be pivotal moving forward in a world where Apple is objectively behind in AI.

It is important to note that Apple Vision Pro executive Mike Rockwell moved over to Siri to help lead the engineering work of the new assistant, but this was all achieved under Federighi's leadership.

Apple's CEO wants things to change in the software group

A new report from Bloomberg suggests that Apple CEO John Ternus wants a change in the software group. He reportedly recently held a closed-door meeting with Federighi to discuss expanding Apple's software roadmap beyond the 12-18 months that Federighi currently operates on.

This would align hardware and software even more, as Apple's hardware group plans much more into the future. Take the iPhone Duo for example, which released in late 2026. Reports suggest that former CEO Tim Cook pushed for a foldable iPhone six years ago, after a trip to China.

This would potentially help make Apple's hardware releases much more ambitious, and could see products launch much sooner as the software would be ready.

For example, the recently announced HomePod mini 2 has allegedly been ready for a couple of years, but Apple had to wait for the software to catch up so they could ship the new Siri on the device. Even now, as the mini 2 is out, the new version of Siri is still not available.

These delays could be reduced, and product development could be accelerated if the software division planned ahead just like the hardware division. This lines up with other reports that Ternus wants Apple to be a more agile company, releasing more products at a faster rate.

Even in that report, I mentioned that a faster face may not be a good idea, because of recent issues within the software group at Apple.

Federighi doesn't appear to be going anywhere

Despite everything, Bloomberg says that there is little succession planning within the software organisation and that Craig Federighi has no plans to retire any time soon.

In theory, he could have another decade in the role, as he is younger than many other executives at 57.

Additionally, if Apple was looking at his retirement, or even letting him go, it would be unlikely that they would expand his responsibilities just before that happens. His newfound leadership over Apple's AI efforts could prove useful to the company's future, and he may help shape that in his final years at Apple.

His meeting appears to be a general discussion about Apple's future, after all John Ternus is only a couple of months into the CEO role - he is now just beginning to put his mark on the company.

The question that I have considered, which is why I believe Federighi is not going anywhere, is:

Why would you ask the current leader to map out a roadmap, and then immediately replace him?

Final Thoughts

Yes, Apple's software is buggy and something does need to change. But that change is not going to be Craig Federighi.

Federighi is in it for the long run, and is shaping up to be one of the major forces behind Apple's AI efforts after delivering Siri AI, and now looking at more ways to expand Siri's agentic capabilities.

After meeting with Ternus, he may take a different approach to the role that he has held at Apple for over a decade, but will remain as software chief for at least a few more years to come.