After 15 years on the helm, Tim Cook dinner is lastly stepping down as Apple CEO. In his stead can be John Ternus, an Apple veteran who most just lately served as Apple’s head {hardware} honcho and has been knocking across the Cupertino hallways for many of his grownup life. If there’s anybody who is aware of Apple in addition to Cook dinner, it’s Ternus.
The transition received’t occur immediately. WWDC26 in June can be Cook dinner’s final Apple occasion, with Ternus taking on on September 1, simply earlier than the iPhone 18 Professional is revealed. That’s a reasonably vital time for a changeover.
What can we anticipate going ahead? Tim Cook dinner was effusive in his reward of Ternus, saying, “John Ternus has the thoughts of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the guts to guide with integrity and with honor. He’s a visionary whose contributions to Apple over 25 years are already too quite a few to depend, and he’s with out query the best individual to guide Apple into the long run.”
However what’s going to the John Ternus period actually appear to be? Will he be capable to right Apple’s errors and put the corporate on the trail to additional prosperity? And what’s going to that future appear to be for you? I’ve gazed into the tea leaves, examined my fair proportion of entrails and skim each palm I can discover to see if I can work all of it out. Right here’s what I reckon we could possibly be in for.
Who’s John Ternus?
Till being named as incoming CEO, John Ternus was Apple’s Senior Vice President of {Hardware} Engineering, and he’s overseen the bodily merchandise which have made Apple so successful. (Apple introduced that Johny Srouji will succeed Ternus as {hardware} chief.)
He first joined Apple in 2001 as a part of the corporate’s product design staff, with a selected deal with the much-loved Cinema Show. He graduated to Vice President of {Hardware} Engineering in 2013 and was then promoted to Senior Vice President of {Hardware} Engineering in 2021.
Because the {hardware} engineering lead, he at first dealt with Apple’s AirPods, iPad and Mac {hardware} divisions. iPhone {hardware} was added to that roster in 2020, with the Apple Watch being put beneath his purview in 2022. He additionally performed a number one function in Apple’s transition away from Intel processors and in the direction of Apple silicon, taking to the stage and conducting interviews to advertise the brand new chips.
And for the reason that ouster of John Giannandrea as Apple’s AI chief in 2025, the corporate’s secret robotics initiatives have been moved beneath Ternus’s aegis, too.
John Ternus performed an instrumental function within the Apple silicon transition for the Mac.
Apple
Proper now, he’s one of many youngest members of Apple’s senior management staff. He’ll be 51 years previous when he ascends to the Apple throne–virtually the very same age as Tim Cook dinner was when he grew to become CEO in 2011, 15 years in the past. That tells you that in making this transfer, Apple is planning for the lengthy haul. If all goes effectively for the corporate, Ternus could possibly be in cost for the subsequent decade and a half, if no more.
The John Ternus period
Tim Cook dinner is many issues, however in contrast to Steve Jobs, he’s by no means actually been a product individual. Ternus is a {hardware} man via and thru, nonetheless, and this might assist him repair a few of Apple’s most urgent issues, comparable to its floundering Imaginative and prescient Professional and the way it makes its forthcoming augmented actuality glasses a rip-roaring success.
On that subject, it’s value noting that the primary function Ternus took on after graduating from college was at Digital Analysis Techniques, an organization centered on making digital actuality headsets and different units. Might that give him unusual perception into how Apple can set the beleaguered Imaginative and prescient Professional on the best path?
Possibly, possibly not. Ternus left Digital Analysis Techniques to affix Apple in 2001, and an enormous quantity has modified within the VR world since then. On the identical time, Ternus was at Apple throughout your complete Imaginative and prescient Professional creation course of and would have had a powerful function in its improvement. If he had been current in a management place throughout that point, would a lot change now that he’s set to move up the corporate?
I wouldn’t rule it out. His nature as a product individual may give him the concepts and imaginative and prescient to right course now that he’s obtained extra energy concentrated in his palms. It may be precisely what’s wanted to steer the long-rumored Apple smartglasses to a profitable launch.
And there’s an encouraging tidbit from a New York Instances profile of Ternus from earlier this 12 months. There, it was famous that round 2018, Apple was considering of including a LiDAR Scanner to its iPhones however was involved that the comparatively costly $40 element would eat into its earnings. Ternus proposed that the half could possibly be restricted to the Professional fashions and excluded from the entry-level iPhones.
However crucially, he didn’t do that purely as a result of he was searching for Apple’s backside line. In response to the Instances’ profile, Ternus’s reasoning was that the Professional-level iPhones “tended to be bought by Apple’s most loyal prospects, who can be enthusiastic about new know-how. Common shoppers, then again, most likely wouldn’t care.”
That’s telling as a result of it reveals Ternus’s sure-footed understanding of Apple’s prospects and what they do and don’t care about.
John Ternus appears to have an understanding of Apple prospects and what they need of their merchandise.
Apple is usually accused of being so obsessive about being the very best that it turns into too premium, making its units unaffordable for most individuals. But when Ternus can take the perception demonstrated within the Instances’ profile and apply it to the remainder of Apple’s merchandise going ahead, we will maybe hope for a corporation that continues to be strongly in contact with what its base needs.
Ternus has additionally come out swinging in the best to restore debate, saying that Apple’s purpose is to enhance product sturdiness slightly than enhance repairability, which might add factors of failure and “unintended penalties which are worse for the buyer and worse for the planet.” That doesn’t imply repairability considerations can be thrown by the wayside — the MacBook Neo, in any case, is without doubt one of the most repairable Apple units in years. But with Ternus’s deal with system high quality and longevity, the emphasis will possible be positioned elsewhere.
Extra than simply {hardware}
Ternus’s tenure as {hardware} chief hasn’t been good, in fact. He pushed arduous for notorious missteps just like the MacBook Professional’s Contact Bar and butterfly keyboard, each of which at the moment are seen as main missteps.
There are unanswered questions, like whether or not he holds the identical deep dedication to privateness, accessibility and environmental motion as Tim Cook dinner. It could be no shock if he does, as it will be extremely uncommon for Cook dinner to decide on a successor who will not be on board with these points. Nevertheless it’s nonetheless one thing of an unknown for now.
Can John Ternus lead Apple into areas the place the corporate has fallen quick?
Apple
And for all of Ternus’s {hardware} experience, lots of Apple’s largest issues lie in software program, with AI and its Liquid Glass design being significantly front-of-mind. But even right here, there are promising indicators. Apple is a extremely built-in firm that controls each its {hardware} and software program. You is perhaps a “{hardware} individual” like Ternus, however you’re not shut off in a quarantine, by no means to the touch software program.
We will see that in Ternus’s personal historical past. In response to Bloomberg, Ternus was one of many strongest voices inside Apple who pushed for the creation of iPadOS. Ternus argued that the iPad wouldn’t be capable to reside as much as its potential and reap the benefits of its {hardware} capabilities if it didn’t have its personal bespoke working system. In different phrases, Ternus understood how {hardware} and software program may help one another thrive. That’s the best mindset to have at an organization like Apple.
In addition to that, one in all Ternus’s additional roles is as “govt sponsor” for design. Whereas that doesn’t imply he’s a delegated design guru alongside the traces of Jony Ive or Alan Dye, it does imply that he’s tasked with dealing with design points (each {hardware} and software program) throughout govt conferences. So, whereas his focus has remained on {hardware}, he’s been dipping his toes into software program points for a while now.
Apparently, Apple’s most up-to-date CEOs have all specialised in barely completely different disciplines. For Jobs, it was design and advertising and marketing. For Cook dinner, operations. And in Ternus’s case, it’s {hardware}. I do know that’s one thing of a simplification, nevertheless it’ll be intriguing to see how Ternus’s background will affect the best way he approaches his new job.
With Tim Cook dinner’s tenure coming to an finish and John Ternus stepping additional into the limelight, we could possibly be on the cusp of main change at Apple. However given all we all know in regards to the firm’s new CEO, from his passions and priorities to the best way he’s centered on {hardware} with out excluding all the things else, Apple appears to be in secure palms.
