John Ternus succeeds Tim Cook as Apple CEO after 15 years

John Ternus has officially taken over as the chief executive officer of Apple, succeeding Tim Cook, who ended a 15-year tenure leading the tech giant.

Ternus, who took the helm on Tuesday, had been serving as the senior vice president for hardware engineering at the Cupertino, California-based company since 2021.

When Apple announced the transition in April, the company said that Cook will move into the role of executive chairman.

Ternus is an old hand at the company. He joined Apple’s product design team in 2001 and climbed the ranks. He was appointed vice president of hardware engineering in 2013 and was promoted in 2021 to the senior vice president role that he has now moved up from.

A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Ternus had previously worked on virtual reality headsets at a company called Virtual Research Systems.

Since joining Apple, Ternus has overseen the launch of a range of its most well-known product lines, including the iPad and AirPods.

Given Ternus’s background in hardware engineering, analysts saw his appointment as a sign that the company, best known for its iPhone, is pushing to double down on innovation across its device portfolio.

“The appointment of Ternus is Apple’s subtle way of [doubling down] on hardware innovation as a core strategy. It doesn’t refute the Tim Cook era; it marks a new stage in Apple’s history by intertwining AI with hardware, rather than treating AI as a standalone product,” Babak Hafezi, professor of international business at American University, told Al Jazeera.