John Ternus goes to be Apple’s subsequent CEO. And whereas outgoing CEO Tim Prepare dinner was lauded for his strategy to logistics, Ternus’ historical past is that of a product individual.
Ternus, Apple’s SVP of {hardware} engineering earlier than being formally tapped to take excessive job, has been more and more within the public eye to assist Apple announce its newest merchandise. Ternus helped introduce the iPhone Air final September, its flashiest new iPhone of the 2025 lineup. He’s additionally been the face of saying new Macs for years, together with Apple’s first Macs with Apple Silicon in 2020 that profoundly reworked Apple’s laptop lineup, persevering with via the 15-inch MacBook Air in 2023 and a set of M4 Macs final yr. Now, Ternus, who’s 50 years outdated and has had a 25-year tenure at Apple, goes to be the one in control of the whole lot.
Ternus’ time at Apple has spanned each the Steve Jobs and Tim Prepare dinner eras. It started in 2001 when he joined Apple’s product design crew after a couple of years as a mechanical engineer at Digital Analysis Methods. Ternus’ first boss at Apple, Steve Siefert, advised The New York Instances that Ternus turned a supervisor just some years after getting employed at Apple. Siefert described him as “a person of the folks,” recalling how Ternus turned down shifting into his personal workplace when he was promoted, insisting on sitting alongside his crew as a substitute. In 2013, Ternus was promoted once more, this time to VP of {hardware} engineering. In 2021, he turned senior VP of {hardware} engineering, taking on for Dan Riccio and formally becoming a member of Apple’s govt crew.
Apple has seen vital change within the firm’s product lineup within the 13 years since Ternus rose to the management ranks of the {hardware} engineering division, together with the launch of totally new gadgets. Notably, Ternus oversaw the event of the unique AirPods launched in 2016. In simply the final 5 years with Ternus in his SVP function, Apple has transitioned the iPhone lineup to USB-C, redesigned the MacBook Air to pivot away from its outdated “wedge” look, revamped the iPad Professional with a thinner design and launched the Imaginative and prescient Professional. Apple is rumored to be releasing its first foldable iPhone this fall.
However not the whole lot he’s labored on has been a success. A Bloomberg profile in March about Apple’s inheritor obvious known as him a “driving power” behind the MacBook Professional’s ill-fated Contact Bar, and his “subsequent typing fiasco,” the butterfly keyboard.
A few of Ternus’ contributions have been much less public, however nonetheless vital. Apple’s announcement that he shall be stepping in as CEO says Ternus “has additionally pushed a lot of Apple’s innovation in supplies and {hardware} design” to assist cut back its carbon footprint, like using 3D-printed titanium within the Apple Watch Extremely 3 and “improvements in repairability which have elevated the lifespans of a number of Apple merchandise.”
Ternus has massive footwear to fill: he in fact follows within the footsteps of Steve Jobs, however Tim Prepare dinner carried on Jobs’ legacy to make the corporate the {hardware} and companies big that it’s at the moment. Apple is rumored to have a bunch of attention-grabbing new merchandise within the pipeline to shake issues up, together with new sensible dwelling {hardware}, a long-delayed revamp to Siri, OLED MacBook Professionals with a touchscreen, and even sensible glasses. Beginning September 1st, all of these merchandise — and the way forward for Apple — will grow to be the duty of Ternus.
