John Ternus is now one of the most powerful people in the world. But that power came quietly, and slowly: the public was introduced to him as he gradually appeared in more and more of Apple’s launch keynotes, where he would be relied on to introduce new hardware innovations, with a particular focus in recent years on Apple Silicon, the lauded new chips that he helped to develop.
That introduction – quiet, professional, product-focused – is itself a reflection of the person. Announcing that he would stand down as chief executive and make way for John Ternus, Tim Cook said his replacement “has the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity and with honour”. Ternus’s engineer’s mind has allowed him to lead many of Apple’s biggest successes in recent years, but appears to reflect his personality too. That marks a major if muted change at the top of one of the most important institutions in the world.
Mr Ternus joined Apple in 2001, just a few years after graduating in mechanical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and has stayed there ever since. He rose through the ranks – joining as a product designer, and most recently as head of Apple’s hardware engineering. Through that period he led the development of iPhones, AirPods and the rest of Apple’s hardware, as well as the still relatively new Apple Silicon chips that now power its whole line-up.
Ternus’s appearances in Apple’s launch videos tended to focus on those hardware innovations, and he was most often relied on to introduce the more premium and professional-focused part of Apple’s line-up. Away from the stage, his manner is that of an engineer too: he is observant, informed and detail-focused, while also able to enthuse about his new creations. As a manager, he inherits Mr Cook’s placid if precise style, rather than Steve Jobs’s famous and sometimes infamous more emotionally charged approach.
Just like Mr Cook, Mr Ternus has preserved his privacy. Very little is known about his personal life, beyond being part of the Varsity swim team at UPenn. When he returned to his college to give its commencement speech in 2024, he told a story about nearly destroying a piece of machinery by accident and highlighted Apple’s work on carbon neutrality. But he revealed almost nothing of himself, focusing on his work in engineering and advising students to “take the time to build skills and expertise in areas that matter to you”.
Mr Cook too has chosen to say very little about his personal life. He came out as gay in 2014, but has revealed nothing about his family life since. Even during 15 years as one of the most prominent businesspeople in the world, only glimpses of his personal life have emerged: he is an early riser, with an interest in fitness, and in interviews he tends to bring even personal questions back to his life at Apple. (The company has both a philosophical and practical focus on privacy, but other members of the executive team – such as software head Craig Federighi who had also been mooted as a possible successor to Mr Cook – have revealed details about their family life and personal interests.)
Tim Cook has been running Apple since 2011, when he took over in the wake of Steve Jobs’s illness in circumstances that were wholly different. Mr Cook was also a very different appointment: he had been intimately close with Jobs, and his career at Apple had been focused on operations rather than engineering.
In his statement, Mr Ternus referred to Mr Cook as his “mentor”, and the company has been planning the succession for years. That work increased earlier this year, with reports suggesting that Mr Cook had made clear his intention to work less. In the time since, Mr Ternus had become understood to be Mr Cook’s presumptive heir – but still maintained something of a low profile, being called on to introduce Apple’s most recent new product in the MacBook Neo but once again largely focusing on its hardware innovations and design.
Outside of his well-regarded work on making things, little is known about the 50-year-old John Ternus. He has been an engineer throughout his career, and even as his platform has grown both inside and outside of Apple he has retained a focus on product rather than policy.
At least at first, he might be able to avoid some of those harder questions, even as he takes over the company. Apple said in its announcement that Mr Cook will stay on as executive chairman, a job that will see him “assist with certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers around the world”. That might mean that he continues to work with Donald Trump, for instance, a relationship that has been financially helpful for Apple in avoiding tariffs and other troubles but which has brought PR problems for both the company and Mr Cook personally.
A focus on products might be exactly what Apple needs, however. As the company has grown, so has its political clout, but it has brought fallouts with regulators and embarrassing flattery of Donald Trump. Many longtime Apple commentators worried that the company’s focus on its policy positions and political
“Today, it feels to me like Apple needs a product guy at the helm again. Someone with the itch to spearhead the creation of new things,” wrote John Gruber, an Apple blogger who has historically been close to the company. “Of course Cook’s successor came from within the company’s ranks. And John Ternus, more than anyone else at the company, seems like that person.”
In his first public statements as incoming chief executive, Mr Ternus reflected that same focus on products. But he also highlighted the company’s “values and vision”, in what likely signals the new scope of his role and an awareness of the challenges to come.
“I am profoundly grateful for this opportunity to carry Apple’s mission forward,” he said in a statement. “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. 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.
“I am filled with optimism about what we can achieve in the years to come, and I am so happy to know that the most talented people on earth are here at Apple, determined to be part of something bigger than any one of us. I am humbled to step into this role, and I promise to lead with the values and vision that have come to define this special place for half a century.”
