, who reports to CEO Tim Cook, will leave Apple in the next several months after transitioning his role to a replacement, Apple said.

Cook called Mansfield an "instrumental part" of Apple's executive team but asserted that the engineering team would "not miss a beat" during the transition to a new leader.

"We are very sad to have him leave and hope he enjoys every day of his retirement," Cook said in the statement.

Mansfield joined Apple in 1999 when it bought Silicon Graphics spin-off Raycer Graphics. He has led hardware engineering for the Mac since 2005, for the iPhone and the iPod since 2010, and for the iPad since its inception, Apple said.

He is less well-known than some other Apple executives, such as designer Jonathan Ive or marketing chief Phil Schiller, but he appeared in a few Apple promotional videos, including for a new line of MacBooks.