John Ternus takes over as Apple enters the AI and foldable-phone era

John Ternus has taken over Apple with barely a week to settle into the job before the company’s annual iPhone event on September 9. Apple is expected to unveil its first foldable handset at the event, giving its new chief executive an immediate test of the company’s hardware direction.

The handover ends Tim Cook’s 15-year run. Cook built Apple’s supply chain and leaves a company that dominates the smartphone market, but Ternus inherits a business that trails rivals in artificial intelligence. He must also manage Apple’s dependence on China while facing intense political pressure from the White House.

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Tim Cook left the house in phenomenal order

Ternus, 51, joined Apple’s design team in 2001 and rose to senior vice president of hardware engineering. He has led the engineering teams behind the company’s full product range, including the iPhone, which generates most of Apple’s revenue. Before joining Apple, he earned a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Pennsylvania and worked at Virtual Research Systems.

Within Apple, Ternus is credited with pushing products to become more durable, reliable and resilient. He also contributed to design work aimed at reducing their carbon footprint. Some analysts had viewed software chief Craig Federighi as the more logical choice for a company trying to catch up in AI. Carolina Milanesi of Creative Strategies said that view underestimated how consumers adopt technology: “Consumers are still buying hardware first, and it’s going to be like that for a long time. You’re not going to discover the value of AI if you’re not interested in the hardware.”

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But now it’s about Ternus defining the AI chapter.

Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives & Co. said Cook had left Apple in exceptionally strong shape, but that Ternus now had to define its AI chapter. Ives expects Ternus to focus on hardware innovation while preserving Cook’s supply chain strategy. Cook expressed confidence in his successor in a final memo to employees: “Few people understand what it takes to build products that change the world the way John does.”

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Consumers are still buying hardware first, and it’s going to be like that for a long time. You’re not going to discover the value of AI if you’re not interested in the hardware.

Ternus will receive a $3 million base salary, the same amount Cook received as chief executive. A securities filing said stock options could take his first-year compensation to $58 million. Cook’s salary will fall to $2 million, while his total compensation over the next year could reach $47 million. His total compensation for 2025 exceeded $74 million.

Milanesi said Ternus’s leadership style could change once he moves from running engineering to running the company: “You might know him as the head of engineering, but once you’re CEO, things change. Your responsibility is bigger, your power is bigger. You’re dancing a different kind of dance.”

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Few people understand what it takes to build products that change the world the way John does.