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Who is John Ternus, the incoming Apple CEO?
After 15 years, Tim Cook will hand off the Apple CEO role to John Ternus, the company’s senior vice president of hardware engineering. Starting on September 1, Ternus will lead 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 now.
How long has John Ternus worked at Apple?
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 reports to Cook, whom he considers a mentor, and leads 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.
“Always assume you’re as smart as anyone else in the room, but never assume that you know as much as they do,” Ternus said in the speech. “With this mindset, you’ll find the confidence you need to push forward, but more importantly, the humility to ask questions.”
In a tech ecosystem populated with abrasive egos, it’s refreshing to hear Ternus utter the word “humility.” Better yet, he doesn’t appear to have an X account.
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What projects did John Ternus lead at Apple?
Ternus’s earliest project at Apple involved scrutinizing parts for the Apple Cinema Display, an early desktop monitor.
“At some point in my first year, I found myself at a supplier facility. 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. “I distinctly remember stepping back for a minute and thinking, ‘What the hell am I doing? Is this normal?’”
As Ternus climbed the corporate ladder, his responsibilities grew. He may no longer spend as much time analyzing screws, but he still seems to take pride in getting the little details right. In a recent interview, when Ternus was asked about his favorite memory of Steve Jobs, he mentioned the former Apple co-founder’s attention to craftsmanship.
“[Jobs] was moving a piece of furniture, a chest of drawers, and pulled it away from the wall and looked at the back and was just reflecting on, you know, that the carpenter who made it had made it beautiful,” Ternus said. “It finished the back as beautifully as the rest of it, even though nobody was going to see it, right? And I think about that all the time because I think that perfectly exemplifies what we do here.”
From there, he went on to lead the hardware development behind products across the Apple ecosystem, overseeing launches like AirPods, Apple Watch, and the Vision Pro. He also had a hand in major technical upgrades at Apple, like Apple’s transition from Intel chips to its own proprietary Apple silicon.
Most recently, Ternus was involved in the production of the MacBook Neo, Apple’s new, more affordable laptop model that lowers costs through some clever tradeoffs in hardware design, like using an iPhone chip to power the device.
“We never want to ship junk. We want to ship great products that have that Apple experience, that Apple quality. To do that with the Neo required building something completely new from the ground up […] leveraging both the technologies we’d been developing like Apple silicon, but also the kind of expertise that we’ve developed over many, many years of building Macs, and building phones, and building iPads, and all of these things,” Ternus told Tom’s Guide.
As CEO, Ternus will have to steer Apple through its challenge to catch up in the AI race and figure out what to do with the underlying tech behind the Vision Pro.
What else do we know about John Ternus?
Ternus was on the swimming team at Penn. For his senior project, he built a feeding arm that people with quadriplegia could control with head movements.
According to public records of political donations, Ternus donated $2,900 to Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in 2021.
Otherwise, Ternus has maintained a relatively low profile.
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has urged Muslims and Islamic organisations across Nigeria to heighten vigilance and immediately report suspicious persons, movements and objects to security agencies following a nationwide terror alert.
MURIC’s warning came after the Nigeria Police Force raised concerns over intelligence indicating increased mobilisation of terrorist elements for possible coordinated attacks on places of worship, schools, NYSC orientation camps and other vulnerable locations.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, MURIC Executive Director, Professor Isiaq Akintola, urged Islamic organisations and individuals to be wary of unfamiliar faces at their gatherings and take precautionary measures to prevent possible attacks.
Akintola specifically advised mosques to strengthen security arrangements and exercise caution over individuals carrying bags or luggage into their premises.
He said, “Islamic organizations and individuals must be wary of strange faces at their gatherings. People carrying bags and baggage, especially back-packs, must not be allowed into mosque premises.
“Mosques must up their vigilance. Entertain no unknown faces even if their turbans carry the stamps of Saudi Arabia and Iran altogether. No sleep-over should be allowed in the mosques.
“Most importantly, dispose of any bag or luggage found inside or around the mosque immediately. They must also report suspicious persons to the police even if such person or persons pray with them in the same mosque.”
The Nigeria Police Force had, in a wireless message dated September 13, 2026, directed commands nationwide to intensify security measures following intelligence on possible coordinated terrorist attacks.
Issued by the Force Department of Operations in Abuja and marked “Security General” and “Treat as Very Important,” the message was circulated to police formations, including Commissioners of Police, Assistant Inspectors-General overseeing various zones, counter-terrorism units and other specialised formations.
According to the directive, the North-East, North-West, North-Central and parts of the South-West were areas of particular concern.
The police also disclosed intelligence indicating the movement of armed elements from Katsina through Kaduna towards Plateau State, while suspected Islamic State West Africa Province operatives and local collaborators were reportedly conducting surveillance of potential targets.
The Force expressed particular concern over possible attacks on learning institutions, warning that terrorists could exploit the resumption of the 2026/2027 academic session to target concentrations of students and staff.
It further noted that such attacks could be aimed at causing mass casualties, spreading fear and destabilising communities ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The police assessed the situation as a possible progression from “intent to preparatory activity” and ordered immediate proactive measures.
Consequently, commanders were directed to intensify intelligence-led surveillance, patrols, stop-and-search operations, access control and rapid-response arrangements around vulnerable locations.
The Force also ordered tighter security at borders, entry and exit routes and other critical approaches to prevent the infiltration and movement of armed elements.
“All personnel should maintain heightened vigilance and report suspicious persons, vehicles, movements or objects through established channels,” the message stated.
Police commands were further instructed to collaborate with other security and intelligence agencies, religious leaders, school authorities and the NYSC management to strengthen information sharing and early-warning mechanisms.
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