­Apple has shaken up its management team, with its newly hired head of its retail stores leaving the company, just six months after his surprise hiring.

John Browett is leaving the company, seemingly with immediate effect after joining the firm earlier this year from the UK high-street chain, Dixons. The appointment caused surprise at the time as Dixons is a far-cry from the style of retailer that Apple is used to.

As part of the other management changes, Jony Ive, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi will add more responsibilities to their roles.

Apple also announced that Scott Forstall, who headed up the OS development team, and was seen as a key figure in recent years, will be leaving Apple next year and will serve as an advisor to CEO Tim Cook in the interim.

Jony Ive will provide leadership and direction for Human Interface (HI) across the company in addition to his role as the leader of Industrial Design. Eddy Cue will take on the additional responsibility of Siri and Maps, placing all of our online services in one group.

Craig Federighi will lead both iOS and OS X. Bob Mansfield will lead a new group, Technologies, which combines all of Apple's wireless teams across the company in one organization.

The company added that Mansfield will also manage the semiconductor teams and hinted that they have "ambitious" plans, which will spark speculation about its long rumoured plans to reduce its reliance on Samsung and other suppliers for its semiconductors.