When John Ternus steps into the role of Apple’s CEO in September 2026, he will be the third person to assume this position in the company’s history, following in the footsteps of Steve Jobs and Tim Cook. Despite his relative anonymity to the general public outside Apple’s inner circles, Ternus boasts an impressive track record. Aged 51, Ternus has been a part of Apple for 25 years, starting in 2001 as a member of the product design team, marking only his second job post-college after a brief stint at Virtual Research Systems, a virtual reality device company. Rising through the ranks, he became vice president of hardware engineering in 2013 and was later promoted to senior vice president in 2021. Notably, Ternus, at 15 years Cook’s junior, was a compelling internal candidate due to his youth and expertise.
Reporting to Cook, whom he regards as a mentor, Ternus heads Apple’s hardware engineering division, a critical role in a company renowned for its iconic physical products like the iPhone and MacBook. Ternus’s journey at Apple began with meticulous work on the Apple Cinema Display, inspecting components in the early hours at a supplier’s facility, emphasizing precision and quality. Over time, he oversaw the successful launches of key hardware products such as AirPods, Apple Watch, and the Vision Pro headset, playing a pivotal role in Apple’s shift from Intel processors to its proprietary Apple silicon chips.
His most recent achievement includes spearheading the production of the MacBook Neo, a budget-friendly laptop incorporating an iPhone chip to balance cost-efficiency with Apple’s renowned quality standards. Ternus’s leadership philosophy, as shared in a commencement speech, underscores the balance between confidence and humility, urging graduates to leverage their intellect while remaining open to learning from others.
Inspired by Steve Jobs’s dedication to craftsmanship, Ternus emphasizes attention to detail and quality in Apple’s product development, mirroring Jobs’s anecdote about a carpenter’s meticulous approach to unseen details. As he steps into his new role, Ternus faces a pivotal moment for Apple, particularly in advancing artificial intelligence and the future trajectory of the Vision Pro platform. With his background in hardware engineering, Ternus is expected to shape Apple’s strategy, emphasizing on-device processing and seamless hardware-software integration over cloud-based solutions, distinguishing the company’s approach from its competitors.