John Ternus Takes Over as Apple CEO Amid Upcoming iPhone Launch and AI Rollout
John Ternus, who has spent 25 years at Apple and led its hardware engineering, became chief executive on September 1, succeeding Tim Cook, who will remain as executive chairman.
Apple announced that senior vice president of hardware engineering John Ternus assumed the chief executive role on September 1, ending Tim Cook’s 15-year tenure. Cook will stay on the board as executive chairman.
Ternus, 51, has been with Apple for a quarter-century, joining the product design team in 2001 and rising to senior vice president of hardware engineering in 2021. He has overseen development of major products such as AirPods, Apple Watch, Vision Pro, and the recent MacBook Neo, and played a part in the company’s transition to Apple-silicon chips.
The leadership change comes as Apple prepares to unveil its next iPhone generation and to expand its Siri AI experience, which incorporates Google’s Gemini technology. In a staff memo, Cook wrote, "I take enormous comfort in handing the helm to someone as brilliant and wonderful and capable as John. Few people understand what it takes to build products that change the world the way John does and I could not be more excited for his leadership."
Ternus, who cited former CEO Steve Jobs’s attention to detail as an influence, emphasized humility and collaboration in a commencement address at the University of Pennsylvania’s engineering school. He also recounted early work inspecting hardware components, illustrating his long-standing focus on product quality.
Analysts note that Ternus, 15 years younger than Cook, could provide leadership continuity for Apple, which has had only two CEOs in the 21st century. His immediate challenges include steering the company in the competitive AI market and defining the future of the Vision Pro platform.