Phil Schiller is reportedly stepping down from leadership roles overseeing Apple’s App Store and product events while remaining at the company as an Apple Fellow. The change would move two high-profile responsibilities away from one of Apple’s longest-serving executives, according to reporting from Engadget, The Verge and Bloomberg.
Schiller joined Apple in 1987 and became its marketing chief in 1997. Over nearly four decades, his work has touched the iPhone, iPad, iPod and Mac product lines, and he has presented several of the company’s major product announcements.
Schiller helped introduce the App Store in 2008
Schiller helped Steve Jobs launch the App Store in 2008, when Apple opened the marketplace alongside the iPhone’s expanding software platform. He took over leadership of the store in 2015, adding responsibility for a business he had helped bring to market seven years earlier.
The reported shift matters because it ends a long stretch of direct stewardship by an executive closely tied to the storefront’s creation and Apple’s public product launches. Schiller’s appearances at launch events also made him one of the company’s most recognizable leaders outside its chief executive role.
The Apple Fellow title keeps Schiller at the company
Apple Fellows typically hold influential positions within the company, and Schiller will retain that title under the reported arrangement. His future work would focus on unspecified initiatives rather than the App Store and the product-event duties he has handled.
Apple has not publicly confirmed the reported changes, named the person or team that would take over the marketplace responsibilities, or set an effective date. The company also has not outlined the scope or timing of Schiller’s new initiatives as an Apple Fellow.
This article was produced with AI assistance from multi-source reporting and is published under our editorial standards.
