Apple Restructures for Health+ Launch as Jeff Williams Prepares to Retire

Apple is preparing for one of its most significant internal restructurings in years as it gears up to launch its highly anticipated health subscription service, Health+.

With Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams planning to retire later this year, the tech giant from Cupertino is reorganizing leadership roles to ensure a smooth transition and continued momentum in its health and wellness strategy.

According to Bloomberg, Apple’s health and fitness divisions – previously under the oversight of Williams – will soon operate within the Services group led by Eddy Cue, a move that reflects Apple’s intention to merge health technologies more tightly with its digital ecosystem. The company’s prominent figures in this area, Sumbul Desai and Jay Blahnik, will take on expanded responsibilities: Desai will now oversee both teams and report directly to Cue, while Blahnik will report to Desai.

This shift comes as Apple positions itself to unveil Health+, a subscription service designed to offer AI-powered, personalized insights into users’ nutrition, sleep, and fitness routines. The service aims to become the digital hub for well-being, blending data from Apple Watch, iPhone sensors, and future wearables into a cohesive health platform. It marks a new phase in Apple’s evolution – from a device-focused company to a services-driven ecosystem, where wellness becomes a central pillar alongside entertainment and cloud offerings.

Placing Health+ under Cue’s leadership also signifies Apple’s intention to transform wellness into a major revenue stream. Cue already manages Apple’s most successful subscription products such as TV+, iCloud, and Apple Music. Analysts see the restructuring as Apple’s boldest statement yet that health is the next frontier for growth, with potential parallels to the success of Apple Fitness+ and the long-term vision of turning the Apple Watch into a true medical-grade companion.

Meanwhile, other organizational changes will accompany Williams’ exit. Hardware design, led by Molly Anderson, and software design, overseen by Alan Dye, will now report directly to CEO Tim Cook. Craig Federighi, Apple’s Senior VP of Software Engineering, will take full control of watchOS – indicating the growing integration of health functionalities within Apple’s core software. John Ternus, Apple’s Senior VP of Hardware Engineering and rumored successor to Cook, will now assume exclusive control of Apple Watch hardware, an area previously shared under Williams’ supervision. The transition positions Apple for a new era where hardware innovation and health intelligence increasingly intertwine.