In a surprise move on late Monday, Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook announced that he would step down from the position in September and named John Ternus the next CEO. Cook will transition to executive chairman of Apple’s board of directors later this year.
Currently, the vice president of Hardware Engineering, Ternus, will take over as CEO from September 1 this year. “I am profoundly grateful for this opportunity to carry Apple’s mission forward,” Ternus said in a company press release.
This will be the first leadership appointment at Apple in 15 years since Tim Cook took over the CEO role from co-founder Steve Jobs in 2011. Just a month ago, Cook had refuted speculation of stepping down and said in an interview, “I love what I do deeply.”
Who is John Ternus?
Apple on Monday said that Ternus’s transition was ‘a thoughtful, long-term succession planning process’. Ternus has been central to Apple’s hardware engineering growth, having assumed the role of vice president of Hardware Engineering in 2013. In 2021, he joined the executive team as senior vice president of Hardware Engineering. Ternus has spent 25 years at Apple, first joining the company’s product design team in 2001. Prior to joining Apple, Ternus worked as a mechanical engineer with Virtual Research Inc. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.
He has been instrumental in the introduction of multiple new product lines at Apple, including iPad and AirPods, as well as many generations of products across iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch.
Cook, in the company’s press release, described Ternus as a visionary who “has the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity and with honor… he is without question the right person to lead Apple into the future.”
Ternus helped Mac become “more powerful and more popular globally than at any time in its 40-year history,” including the recent introduction of MacBook Neo, making the category more accessible to people worldwide.
According to Bloomberg, Ternus reorganised the hardware engineering division this month to operate with a new AI platform. He is also leading the charge on a trio of new AI-focused wearables and new home devices, Bloomberg added.
Ternus’s transition to the CEO role comes at a time of intense pressure to catch up in AI, an area where Apple is seen as lagging. It will be under his watch that Apple will likely launch products in new categories like a foldable iPhone, a smart home hub and smart glasses powered by an upgraded Siri.
