Apple has announced a new CEO. Tim Cook is offiically stepping down and his place is being filled by John Ternus. Ternus has been with Apple for many years now, and is leading the hardware division currently. Tim Cook will begin the process of handover from today onwards, and Ternus will take the reigns officially from September 1.
To Apple insiders, Ternus needs no introduction. He is the engineer's engineer, a man who has spent the better part of his adult life inside Apple, shaping the physical objects that have, in turn, shaped the world. To the broader public, he arrives as something of a quiet revelation: a leader of enormous capability who has spent decades doing his most important work out of the spotlight. But moving forward, that changes completely.
Who is John Ternus? From Philadelphia to Cupertino
John Ternus was born and raised in the US and studied physics at the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated with a degree that reflects what would become a defining characteristic of his career - a rigorous, foundational interest in how the physical world works, not just how it can be designed around.
He joined Apple in 2001, at a moment when the company was beginning the dramatic reinvention that would eventually make it the most valuable corporation in history. The iPod had just launched. The iPhone was still years away. Apple was a company on the rise, and Ternus, then a young engineer, was stepping into what would become one of the most consequential environments in the history of technology.
He has barely left since. In the quarter century that followed, Ternus built his career entirely within Apple's walls.
Who is John Ternus? He built Apple's most important hardware
If you have used an iPhone in the last decade, held a MacBook Air, or slipped an AirPod into your ear, you have held something that passed through John Ternus's hands. As Apple's Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, Ternus has overseen the physical design and engineering of virtually every product Apple ships.
His portfolio is staggering in its breadth. He has led the teams responsible for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, AirPods, HomePod, and the accessories that tie them together. But it is perhaps two specific chapters of his leadership that best illustrate the scale of his contribution.
- Apple Silicon Transition: When Apple announced in 2020 that it would abandon Intel processors and build its own chips for the Mac, the technology industry held its breath. It was the kind of audacious, vertically integrated move that only Apple would attempt, and the kind that could go catastrophically wrong. Ternus led the hardware engineering effort behind that transition, overseeing the development of the M-series chips and the machines that would house them. The result was a transformation of the Mac that analysts described as the most significant in the product line's history. Performance metrics that had stagnated for years suddenly leaped. Battery life extended dramatically. The machines became quieter, cooler, and markedly faster.
- iPhone design shifts: Ternus has overseen hardware engineering during a period that encompasses some of the iPhone's most significant physical redesigns - from the introduction of the flat-edged stainless steel design that revived the iPhone 4's aesthetic for a new generation, to the titanium-framed Pro models, to the ongoing refinement of camera systems that have turned the smartphone into a professional imaging tool. Each iteration reflects the obsessive attention to material, form, and feel that has come to define Apple's hardware under his watch.
Who is John Ternus? Became Senior VP in 2021
In 2021, Ternus was elevated to Apple's Senior Vice President rank when Dan Riccio, his predecessor in the hardware engineering role, transitioned to a special projects position focused on mixed reality. The promotion was widely read inside and outside Apple as a signal of where the company's leadership saw its future. Ternus became one of a small group of executives reporting directly to Cook, and a regular presence at Apple's major product events, one of the few executives trusted to take the stage.
Who is John Ternus? Mentored by Steve Jobs and Tim Cook both
Ternus has worked under two of the most celebrated CEOs in corporate history. He joined Apple while Jobs was in the process of rebuilding the company into something the world had never seen, and absorbed the culture of craft, courage, and relentless iteration that Jobs made the company's defining characteristic.
When Cook took over, Ternus entered a different kind of mentorship, one shaped by Cook's operational discipline, his conviction that Apple's values and its business ambitions are not in tension but in service of each other, and his belief that leadership is fundamentally an act of stewardship rather than conquest.
In his own statement on becoming CEO, Ternus acknowledged both influences directly. "I have been lucky to have worked under Steve Jobs and to have had Tim Cook as my mentor," he said.
He takes over on September 1st.
John Ternus's official statement
The following is John Ternus's official statement on being named Apple's next CEO:
"I am profoundly grateful for this opportunity to carry Apple's mission forward. Having spent almost my entire career at Apple, I have been lucky to have worked under Steve Jobs and to have had Tim Cook as my mentor. It has been a privilege to help shape the products and experiences that have changed so much of how we interact with the world and with one another. I am filled with optimism about what we can achieve in the years to come, and I am so happy to know that the most talented people on earth are here at Apple, determined to be part of something bigger than any one of us. I am humbled to step into this role, and I promise to lead with the values and vision that have come to define this special place for half a century."
— John Ternus, CEO-designate, Apple
