London: Apple’s next CEO, John Ternus, is a company veteran who rose through the iPhone maker’s hardware engineering ranks but has until now maintained a relatively low profile.

Ternus will take over as chief executive in September from Tim Cook, who turned Apple into a $4 trillion tech colossus during his 15-year tenure following the death of co-founder Steve Jobs.

Ternus faces challenges that will force him out of his comfort zone in hardware engineering. Beyond keeping Apple competitive in the artificial intelligence race, he will need to navigate supply chain issues and relationships with political figures such as President Donald Trump, who offered public praise for his predecessor on Tuesday.

Ternus, 50, has spent nearly his entire career at Apple

Although Cook is handing over the CEO reins, he is widely expected to help the Cupertino, California-based company maintain a strong relationship with Trump after transitioning to his new role as executive chairman.

Ternus, 50, has spent nearly his entire career at Apple. He joined the company 25 years ago and has spent the past five years overseeing the engineering behind the iPhone, iPad and Mac.

That experience made him the prime contender to succeed Cook, who on Monday hailed Ternus as “without question the right person to lead Apple into the future” when the company announced the leadership transition.

Ternus worked on some of Apple’s signature products under Cook, including the Apple Watch, AirPods and Apple Vision Pro. He was also involved in the MacBook Neo, “arguably one of the most disruptive products” Apple has released in some time, according to Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight.

“This mentorship will undoubtedly ensure a smooth transition, and initially I expect very few changes to the company’s strategy,” Wood said.

The appointment appeared carefully timed, following Apple’s 50th anniversary celebrations and ahead of its annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

Focus on the new CEO’s AI strategy

The leadership change comes at a pivotal moment. While Cook led Apple through an era of iPhone-driven prosperity, the company has fallen behind in the AI race and stumbled in delivering AI-powered features promised nearly two years ago.

“The challenge for the new CEO is to ensure Apple can crack AI as the new user interface and reinvent human-machine interaction,” said Forrester Research analyst Thomas Husson.

Wood said attention at WWDC will focus on the new CEO’s AI strategy, including Apple’s next steps after turning earlier this year to Google to help make Siri more conversational and versatile.

“A key strategic question is how far Apple will go in building its own AI platform versus relying on other companies’ models,” Wood said.

Apple shares fell more than 2% during Tuesday’s trading, signaling some investor concern over whether Ternus’s hardware-focused background has prepared him for the AI challenges ahead.

However, some analysts view his hardware expertise as a strength, as Apple seeks to develop an AI-powered device that could eventually supplant the iPhone. That is a goal former Apple design chief Jony Ive is pursuing following the acquisition of his startup, io Products, by OpenAI for $6.5 billion last year.

Ternus is not widely known outside Apple

Apple also faces market volatility amid geopolitical uncertainty, including supply chain pressures and continued reliance on China for manufacturing, Wood said.

Being Apple’s CEO will also require strong relationship-building skills. Cook cultivated close ties with Trump during periods of trade and tariff tensions affecting Apple’s Asian supply chains.

Trump highlighted that relationship in a social media post Tuesday, writing that it began with a phone call early in his first term.

Ternus is not widely known outside Apple. He joined the company in July 2001, according to his LinkedIn profile. Previously, he worked as a mechanical engineer at Virtual Research Systems and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997.

In a 2024 commencement address to Penn’s engineering school, Ternus said he initially felt intimidated at Apple and learned to “always assume you’re as smart as anyone else in the room, but never assume you know as much as they do.”

In Apple’s announcement, Ternus said he was “humbled to step into this role” and pledged to lead with the company’s long-standing values and vision.

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