Tech giant Apple has named longtime hardware boss John Ternus as its new CEO, tapping an insider to lead the iPhone maker as the incumbent Tim Cook will become the Executive Chairman. Cook was handpicked by tech maverick Steve Jobs in 2011, the same year in which the iPhone maker nearly got bankrupt. Cook, who was vice-president of Corporate Materials for Compaq, was helping the company cash on the 1990s PC boom.
Under Cook’s leadership, Apple transitioned itself from a hardware-focused company into a services and ecosystem giant, apart from increasing its market value close to USD 4 trillion. The company has also become a dominant name in the wearables category (Apple Watch, AirPods).
Cook’s stint also witnessed Apple acing its supply chain diversification game, by engaging contract manufacturers in China, followed by rising investments in Vietnam and India under the “China Plus One” model.
The business move proved to be game-changer, by keeping expensive factory operations and product inventories largely off Apple’s books while maximizing profits.
Despite pumping hundreds of billions of dollars of investment in its American supply chain partners, Apple still performs a massive chunk of its production and subsystem sourcing activities in Asia.
Cook, as Executive Chairman, will assist with Apple’s certain operational aspects, including engaging with policymakers around the world. Johny Srouji, who oversaw Apple’s custom chip and sensor designs, will now be the chief hardware officer. He will now lead two divisions: custom chip and sensor designs and hardware engineering that Ternus once led.
“Arthur Levinson, who has been Apple’s non-executive chairman for the past 15 years, will become its lead independent director on September 1, 2026. Ternus will join the board of directors, also effective September 1, 2026,” the tech giant announced.
The promotion of John Ternus as the new Apple CEO comes at a crucial juncture, with the tech giant falling behind in artificial intelligence (AI). It has lost its position as the most valued tech company to AI chipmaker Nvidia, as investors have fretted over its lack of innovation in the AI domain.
Ternus, whom Cook described as “without question the right person to lead the company,” will face an immediate challenge as CEO: Integrating AI into the iPhone.
In January 2026, Apple struck a deal with Alphabet’s Google, to use the latter’s Gemini to improve its Siri virtual assistant. Despite introducing a form of AI in 2011 with Siri, Apple has not yet scored a hardware or software product hit based on Generative AI. Siri is not an “agent,” term that AI firms use for systems that carry out complex tasks like a human assistant.
John Ternus: An Apple Veteran
John Ternus graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in mechanical engineering. During his college days, he worked on an assistive engineering project to design a mechanical feeding device for people with paralysis.
Ternus worked as a mechanical engineer at Virtual Research Systems, a company specializing in early virtual reality hardware, before joining Apple’s product design team in 2001, where he helped design the hardware for the Apple Cinema Display. He eventually became more involved in the core product engineering of major Apple devices over multiple generations.
Ternus was behind the reinvention of products like the Mac, which has grown market share against PCs, apart from being quietly influential in the development of iPads and AirPods.
From 2013 until 2021, when he was elevated to Senior Vice President, Ternus had been Vice President of Hardware Engineering for Apple, overseeing the research and development of key product lines like the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and AirPods.
“Ternus’ work on Mac has helped the category become more powerful and more popular globally than at any time in its 40-year history. That includes the recent introduction of MacBook Neo, an all-new laptop that makes the Mac experience even more accessible to more people around the world. This past fall, his team’s efforts were on full display with the introduction of a redefined iPhone lineup, including the incredibly powerful iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, the radically thin and durable iPhone Air, and the iPhone 17, which has been an incredible upgrade for users. Under his leadership, his team also drove advancements in AirPods to make them the world’s best in-ear headphones, with unprecedented active noise cancellation, as well as the capability to become an all-in-one hearing health system that can serve as over-the-counter hearing aids,” Apple said.
“Ternus also led much of the company’s focus in areas like reliability and durability, introducing new techniques that have made Apple products remarkably resilient. He has also driven much of Apple’s innovation in materials and hardware design that have reduced the carbon footprint of its products, including the creation of a new, recycled aluminium compound that has been introduced across multiple product lines, the use of 3-D printed titanium in Apple Watch Ultra 3, and innovations in repairability that have increased the lifespans of several Apple products,” it remarked further.
Ternus also has a low-key management style and a strong product development detail focus. He is known as a “hands-on” executive, who often works directly with engineering teams to connect design vision with technical execution.
Ternus will be the CEO at 50, the exact age Cook took over leadership duties from Steve Jobs. Apple gave a glimpse of Ternus’ possible elevation in September 2025, as he spoke with the media regarding Apple’s products, apart from unveiling the iPhone Air.