Apple’s John Ternus will run one of the world’s most powerful companies; the job is a minefield

Over his 15-year reign arsenic Apple’s apical banana, Tim Cook has go instantly recognizable, almighty beyond imagination, and exceedingly wealthy. Most estimates peg Cook’s existent nett worthy astatine astir $3 billion, wealthiness that helium amassed mostly done performance-based equity awards arsenic Apple’s marketplace headdress has grown much than 11x connected his ticker to astir $4 trillion.

But the occupation comes with plentifulness of baggage, too. Cook has besides had to navigate 2 Trump administrations and 1 Biden medication – each with its ain posture toward Big Tech, China, and regulation. Cook besides faced down the FBI implicit encryption, spent years successful tribunal defending the App Store against accusations that Apple had turned the iPhone into an amerciable monopoly, and made compromises to enactment successful the Chinese marketplace that attracted a full batch of unwanted attraction from quality rights groups. Not last, Cook watched the company’s astir ambitious hardware stake — the Vision Pro headset — weaponry with consumers. That’s saying thing of the AI section that’s inactive being written, and, potentially, not wholly successful Apple’s favor. Incoming CEO John Ternus inherits each of it.

Here’s a locomotion done immoderate of Cook’s biggest battles implicit the years:

Surely we each retrieve that 2016 FBI encryption fight? After a wide shooting astatine a vacation gathering successful San Bernardino, California, the FBI demanded that Apple assistance unlock the gunman’s iPhone. Cook refused, arguing that encryption was the lone meaningful countermeasure against exposing people’s backstage information and that being forced to interruption it would acceptable a unsafe precedent. The standoff yet ended erstwhile the FBI recovered different mode in, but it cemented Apple’s individuality arsenic a privateness institution and acceptable up years of hostility with governments astir the world. Ternus volition inherit that individuality and the obligations that travel with it.

The App Store antitrust wars haven’t been a locomotion successful the parkland for Cook, either. Epic Games sued Apple successful national tribunal implicit its request that apps usage Apple’s in-app outgo strategy and its 30% chopped of income (and erstwhile the justice pressed Cook connected wherefore users couldn’t simply wage developers straight astatine little prices, his answers did small to deflect her skepticism). Apple mostly prevailed successful 2021, with the tribunal declining to telephone it a monopoly, but it was ordered to let developers to nexus to outer outgo options. It complied successful the narrowest sense, charging a 27% committee connected those outer purchases (some discount!), and courts recovered it successful contempt. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling successful precocious 2025, and aft a rehearing petition was denied past month, Apple is present preparing to petition the Supreme Court, which had already declined to perceive its anterior appeal. A little tribunal inactive indispensable find what interest Apple tin really charge.

The Epic saga is conscionable 1 beforehand successful a overmuch wider antitrust war. The U.S. Department of Justice sued Apple successful March 2024, accusing it of unlawfully dominating the smartphone marketplace by restricting third-party app and instrumentality developers — deliberation competing smartwatches, integer wallets, and messaging services — successful ways that marque it harder for users to power distant from the iPhone. A national justice denied Apple’s question to disregard that case, meaning it could grind done the courts for years. And conscionable this week, Apple revealed it faces a imaginable $38 cardinal good successful India, wherever regulators person recovered it blameworthy of abusing its ascendant presumption successful the app marketplace and accidental Apple has refused to manus implicit required fiscal information — a lawsuit analyzable by the information that Apple’s marketplace stock successful India is inactive comparatively modest, astir 9%, giving it an antithetic space to contention the findings. Ternus inherits this combat mid-stream, with the App Store’s gross exemplary nether nonstop judicial threat.

China has been a changeless and progressively uncomfortable balancing act, too. Cook built Apple’s manufacturing cognition astir Chinese proviso chains, making the institution profoundly babelike connected a state whose authorities grew some much assertive and little predictable implicit time. He besides made uncomfortable concessions to run successful the Chinese marketplace — astir notably removing VPN apps from the Chinese App Store and storing Chinese users’ iCloud information connected state-controlled servers. Cook proved adept during Trump’s archetypal word astatine insulating Apple from tariffs and commercialized warfare risks, successful portion by cultivating a idiosyncratic narration with Trump – who remarked upon quality of Cook’s status that he’s “an unthinkable guy!” Apple has already signaled that Cook volition proceed to assistance Ternus negociate geopolitical terrain arsenic enforcement president — an acknowledgment that these relationships are tricky and that Cook’s organization cognition remains highly valuable.

Yet AI is possibly the astir contiguous and unresolved situation that Ternus is being handed. Apple’s AI chief, John Giannandrea, formally leaves the institution this period pursuing numerous delays successful the rollout of a much susceptible AI-powered Siri. Rather than relying solely connected its ain models, Apple has turned to some Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT to powerfulness immoderate Apple Intelligence features. Longtime marketplace probe expert Bob O’Donnell told Reuters connected Monday that Ternus’s biggest situation volition apt beryllium “getting a amended AI communicative and offering unneurotic that relies much connected Apple’s ain capabilities and little connected 3rd parties,” though immoderate person argued that the institution volition look smarter successful hindsight for waiting retired the costly contention playing retired presently among today’s biggest AI outfits.

Last but not least, enforcement turnover astatine Apple much broadly is little discussed but meaningful. Ternus is inheriting a mostly rebuilt enactment squad pursuing the caller departures of respective different Apple execs implicit the past twelvemonth of less, including its longtime COO, general counsel, and head of UI design. It’s a situation and an accidental that volition necessitate him to enactment his ain stamp connected things comparatively quickly.

The done enactment connecting astir of these challenges is that Cook’s top accomplishment was his quality to negociate analyzable relationships with governments and partners portion keeping the concern humming. Whether Ternus has that aforesaid skill, oregon Cook’s continued beingness arsenic enforcement seat is meant to screen for immoderate gaps there, whitethorn beryllium among the much absorbing questions of the transition.

A overmuch scarier question hanging implicit Ternus’s tenure is whether the satellite that made Apple the astir invaluable institution connected the satellite could really end. Many manufacture watchers judge AI agents volition go the superior mode radical interact with services, rendering the App Store and its 30% chopped a distant memory. Couple that with the anticipation of compelling caller hardware that erodes the iPhone’s grip connected our lives, similar immoderate OpenAI has successful the works, and Ternus could find himself maneuvering done overmuch much than analyzable relationships and litigation.