Six months after veteran Apple engineering mandarin Dan Riccio (on screen right, above) reportedly told colleagues he was ready to pack it in, it appears to have to come pass.

Riccio joined Apple in 1998 and is credited by the company with taking a leading role in designing, developing and engineering “almost all of Apple’s products”.

“From the first generation iMac to the more recent 5G iPhone lineup, M1-based Macs, and AirPods Max, Riccio built the Hardware Engineering teams and scaled Apple’s ability to innovate across multiple new product lines with the highest quality,” Apple says.

After joining Apple 26 years ago as a leader on the Product Design team, Riccio became Vice President of iPad Hardware Engineering in 2010.

In 2012 he joined the executive team as the leader of Hardware Engineering. But now Bloomberg is reporting that Riccio will have cleaned out his desk and unplugged all his devices by the end of October.

In January 2021 announced that Riccio would “transition to a new role focusing on a new project and reporting to CEO Tim Cook”. His role on the executive team went to John Ternus, who became the Hardware Engineering leader. 

Riccio worked on Apple Vision Pro, an augmented and virtual reality headset with the company’s first 3D camera. It allowed users to capture spatial photos and videos in 3D, “then relive those cherished moments like never before with immersive Spatial Audio”. You can watch movies or play games with the screen appearing “at remarkable scale”.

“Working at Apple has been the opportunity of a lifetime, spent making the world’s best products with the most talented people you could imagine,” said Riccio in 2021.

“Next up, I’m looking forward to doing what I love most — focusing all my time and energy at Apple on creating something new and wonderful …”

Vision Pro was released in Australia in July, with prices starting at $5,999.

“Every innovation Dan has helped Apple bring to life has made us a better and more innovative company,” Cook has said of Riccio.

Riccio should retire an incredibly wealthy man. In 2016 CNN reported that with bonuses, he earned US$25 million in 2015.