Who is John Ternus, the new Apple CEO?

After 15 years, Tim Cook has handed off the Apple CEO role to John Ternus, the company’s senior vice president of hardware engineering. As of Tuesday, Ternus now leads one of the world’s most valuable companies. But if you’re not a dedicated Apple enthusiast, you’ve probably never heard of this man, who has largely remained out of the spotlight until he was announced as Cook’s successor in April.

Ternus is assuming the CEO role at a crucial time for Apple. Next week, the company will host its iPhone launch event, ushering in its newest line of hardware. Apple will also soon roll out its new-and-improved Siri AI experience, which is powered by Google’s Gemini.

Ternus has worked at Apple for nearly half of his life — now 51 years old, he has been with the company for 25 years. He joined Apple’s product design team in 2001 as only his second job out of college (his first was at a small maker of virtual-reality devices called Virtual Research Systems). By 2013, Ternus was a VP of hardware engineering and was promoted to the SVP role in 2021.

Ternus — who is 15 years younger than Cook — was among the youngest of top Apple executives who had been rumored as a possible successor, implying that Apple could be looking for someone to lead the company for a long time. After all, Apple has only had two CEOs in this millennium, so it seems that leadership continuity is important to the company. Ternus previously reported to Cook, who he considers a mentor, and led all of hardware engineering at Apple.

That’s a pretty big deal for a company that’s known for ubiquitous hardware like the iPhone and the MacBook. In his 2024 commencement speech at his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania’s engineering school, Ternus reflected on the lessons he learned at Apple, which perhaps can tell us a bit about his character — or at least a sanitized version of it. Ternus’ earliest project at Apple involved scrutinizing parts for the Apple Cinema Display, an early desktop monitor.

I was far away from home. Well past midnight, I was using a magnifying glass to count the number of grooves on the head of a screw … and I was arguing with the supplier because these parts had 35 grooves. They were supposed to have 25,” Ternus recalled in his commencement speech.