Apple marketing head Phil Schiller steps down

Schiller introduces the previous MacBook's keyboard during an Apple special event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on March 9, 2015 in San Francisco, California: Stephen Lam/Getty Images

Phil Schiller, Apple's marketing head, is to step down.

Mr Schiller has become one of the company's most famous faces, regularly taking the lead on the introduction of the iPhone and other products during its keynote events.

Behind the scenes, he also headed up Apple's product marketing work, which includes not only publicising new products but having a central role in their design, too.

Now Mr Schiller will become an "Apple Fellow" and Greg Joswiak, who previously served under him, will take up that position.

Mr Schiller will continue to report to Tim Cook and still look after Apple's events and the App Store, the company said.

But he will have a more scaled-back design that he said would allow for extra time to be spent with "family, friends, and a few personal projects I care deeply about", he said in a statement.