Apple’s incoming CEO John Ternus is taking over at a critical time for the tech giant, which is facing serious questions about its artificial intelligence strategy.
Ternus, a company veteran and head of Apple’s hardware division, will replace longtime CEO Tim Cook on Sept. 1, the company announced Monday. Cook, 65, will transition to a new role as executive chairman.
The 50-year-old Ternus was widely considered the natural choice to succeed Cook thanks to Ternus’s role overseeing development of the iPhone, which still comprises the bulk of Apple’s annual revenue, as well as products like the iPad and MacBook.
“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,” Ternus said in a statement. “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.”
While well-regarded internally, Ternus has maintained a low profile outside of Apple’s Cupertino, Calif. headquarters. He joined the company in 2001 and held several engineering roles before joining the executive ranks in 2021.
Apple’s struggle to implement AI across its product lineup, including a long-delayed overhaul of its Siri voice assistant, is the most immediate challenge facing Ternus.
“The reputation of Ternus is very strong both internally in Cupertino and externally in the tech industry,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a note to investors. “He is a thought leader that also understands the Apple DNA extremely well given his decades at Apple and this is now the era for Ternus to pave the path for Apple going forward.”
Ternus is “well-liked among Apple’s leadership” and “known for his steadiness and political acumen,” Bloomberg tech correspondent Mark Gurman wrote in lengthy column last month ahead of Cook’s exit.
The incoming boss is a motorsports enthusiast who sometimes takes his colleagues to Washington for off-road racing outings, according to Gurman.
A 1997 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Ternus was a member of the school’s swim team. As a senior, he built a robotic feeding arm for quadriplegics that could be controlled with head movements.
Ternus returned to UPenn to deliver a commencement address for its school of engineering in 2024.
In the speech, he admitted that he was initially intimidated when he joined Apple.
He told students to “always assume you’re as smart as anyone else in the room but never assume you know as much as they do.”
Wall Street will be watching closely for more details about Terrnus’s plans at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June.
With Post wires
