Facebook focuses more on hardware with appointment of new technical director

Andrew Bosworth will be Facebook’s new CTO starting next year. He currently leads the hardware division of the social network and in that role is responsible for the development of VR and AR devices, among other things. He will remain so as CTO.

Bosworth has been appointed as the new CTO by CEO Mark Zuckerberg. He is getting that position because the current CTO, Mike Schroepfer, is stepping down from that position next year. Schroepfer wants to spend more time with his family and other matters, but remains involved with Facebook as a Senior Fellow. He has been CTO since 2013.

The appointment of the current chief of the hardware division as CTO for the entire company seems to indicate that Facebook wants to give hardware development a greater role. As technical director, Bosworth will be responsible for developing new technology across the company.

There will be no new executive for the Facebook team that makes hardware. Bosworth is in charge of that and Zuckerberg writes that the team is being expanded. According to the Facebook CEO, this “lays the foundation for building the metaverse”.

Under Bosworth’s care, Facebook released several Portal screens for video calling in recent years. Earlier this week, Facebook announced two new Portal screens. All Oculus VR glasses are also under the care of the hardware team, as is the development of AR glasses.

Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth with Facebook Portal