Who is John Ternus, the incoming Apple CEO?

After 15 years, Tim Cook volition hand disconnected the Apple CEO role to John Ternus, the company’s elder vice president of hardware engineering. Starting connected September 1, Ternus volition pb 1 of the world’s astir invaluable companies, but if you’re not a dedicated Apple enthusiast, you’ve astir apt ne'er heard of this man, who has mostly remained retired of the spotlight until now.

How agelong has John Ternus worked astatine Apple?

Ternus has worked astatine Apple for astir fractional of his beingness — present 51 years old, helium has been with the institution for 25 years.

He joined Apple’s merchandise plan squad successful 2001 arsenic lone his 2nd occupation retired of assemblage (his archetypal was astatine a tiny shaper of virtual world devices called Virtual Research Systems). By 2013, Ternus was a VP of hardware engineering, and was promoted to the SVP relation successful 2021. Ternus — who is 15 years younger than Cook — was among the youngest of apical Apple executives who had been rumored arsenic a imaginable successor, implying that Apple could beryllium looking for idiosyncratic to pb the institution for a agelong time. After all, Apple has lone had 2 CEOs successful this millennium, truthful it seems that enactment continuity is important to the company.

Ternus reports to Cook, whom helium considers a mentor, and leads each of hardware engineering astatine Apple. That’s a beauteous large woody for a institution that’s known for ubiquitous hardware similar the iPhone and the MacBook.

In his 2024 commencement code astatine his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania’s engineering school, Ternus reflected connected the lessons helium learned astatine Apple, which possibly tin archer america a spot astir his quality — oregon astatine slightest a sanitized mentation of it.

“Always presume you’re arsenic astute arsenic anyone other successful the room, but ne'er presume that you cognize arsenic overmuch arsenic they do,” Ternus said successful the speech. “With this mindset, you’ll find the assurance you request to propulsion forward, but much importantly, the humility to inquire questions.”

In a tech ecosystem populated with abrasive egos, it’s refreshing to perceive Ternus utter the connection “humility.” Better yet, helium doesn’t look to person an X account.

Image Credits:Apple

What projects did John Ternus pb astatine Apple?

Ternus’s earliest task astatine Apple progressive scrutinizing parts for the Apple Cinema Display, an aboriginal desktop monitor.

“At immoderate constituent successful my archetypal year, I recovered myself astatine a supplier facility. I was acold distant from home. Well past midnight, I was utilizing a magnifying solid to number the fig of grooves connected the caput of a screw […] and I was arguing with the supplier due to the fact that these parts had 35 grooves. They were expected to person 25,” Ternus recalled successful his commencement speech. “I distinctly retrieve stepping backmost for a infinitesimal and thinking, ‘What the hellhole americium I doing? Is this normal?’”

As Ternus climbed the firm ladder, his responsibilities grew. He whitethorn nary longer walk arsenic overmuch clip analyzing screws, but helium inactive seems to instrumentality pridefulness successful getting the small details right. In a caller interview, erstwhile Ternus was asked astir his favourite representation of Steve Jobs, helium mentioned the erstwhile Apple co-founder’s attraction to craftsmanship.

“[Jobs] was moving a portion of furniture, a thorax of drawers, and pulled it distant from the partition and looked astatine the backmost and was conscionable reflecting on, you know, that the carpenter who made it had made it beautiful,” Ternus said. “It finished the backmost arsenic beautifully arsenic the remainder of it, adjacent though cipher was going to spot it, right? And I deliberation astir that each the clip due to the fact that I deliberation that perfectly exemplifies what we bash here.”

From there, helium went connected to pb the hardware improvement down products crossed the Apple ecosystem, overseeing launches similar AirPods, Apple Watch, and the Vision Pro. He besides had a manus successful large method upgrades astatine Apple, similar Apple’s modulation from Intel chips to its ain proprietary Apple silicon.

Most recently, Ternus was progressive successful the accumulation of the MacBook Neo, Apple’s new, much affordable laptop exemplary that lowers costs done immoderate clever tradeoffs successful hardware design, similar utilizing an iPhone spot to powerfulness the device.

“We ne'er privation to vessel junk. We privation to vessel large products that person that Apple experience, that Apple quality. To bash that with the Neo required gathering thing wholly caller from the crushed up […] leveraging some the technologies we’d been processing similar Apple silicon, but besides the benignant of expertise that we’ve developed implicit many, galore years of gathering Macs, and gathering phones, and gathering iPads, and each of these things,” Ternus told Tom’s Guide.

As CEO, Ternus volition person to steer Apple done its situation to drawback up successful the AI contention and fig retired what to bash with the underlying tech down the Vision Pro.

What other bash we cognize astir John Ternus?

Ternus was connected the swimming squad astatine Penn. For his elder project, helium built a feeding limb that radical with quadriplegia could power with caput movements.

According to public records of governmental donations, Ternus donated $2,900 to Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) successful 2021.

Otherwise, Ternus has maintained a comparatively debased profile.