News

Who is John Ternus, Apple’s next CEO set to succeed Tim CookTim Cook to step down as Apple CEO, hardware chief John Ternus to take over, facing AI disruption, tougher smartphone competition and Apples fall to third in market valueBy Juviraj Anchil  April 21, 2026, 7:47:23 AM IST (Published)2 Min ReadAfter nearly a decade and a half, Tim Cook, the successor of the maverick tech wizard Steve Jobs, is all set to take over as the chief of the third-largest company (in terms of market cap), Apple.

Cook will hand over the baton of the tech giant to the senior vice president of hardware engineering, John Ternus.

Who is John Ternus?

John Ternus is a company insider. He joined the Cupertino corporation in 2001, six years before the launch of Apple's first iPhone.

Ternus is being described as a 'quiet' and 'behind-the-scenes' person, whose media presence has largely been limited.

Ternus has focused on selling products such as Apple's Mac computers, even as Apple's 'i' products, namely, the iPhone, iPad, and iWatch, took centre stage.

Macs have been a dominant force under him, gaining market share.

At 50, Ternus will be the same age as Tim Cook was when he took the position of CEO of Apple from its co-founder Steve Jobs.

The quiet force

He was recently seen when he launched the company's iPhone Air last autumn, which came with ground for several new chips.

In addition to that, he, along with others, is credited for Apple's push on expanding the product line spectrum with the "Pro" models of Macs and iPhones at the higher end of the price scale, along with the MacBook Neo and iPhone "e" models at the lower end.

Ternus has paid extra emphasis on ubiquitous products such as iPads and AirPods.

Ternus, who has been associated with Apple for a quarter of a century, is a graduate of the prestigious University of Pennsylvania, or Penn. Before joining Apple, the engineer with a BSc degree in mechanical engineering worked at Virtual Research Inc.

Challenges ahead

From the shadows, he will now be tasked with some critical challenges.

First and foremost, helping Apple navigate a technology landscape upended by AI, after losing its crown as the world's most valuable company to Nvidia and then to Google, falling to the third position (market cap).

Ternus will also look to shore up and maintain its lead in the smartphone market share and innovate on the front, as competitors take chances with their models, even as the smartphone market moves towards a point of saturation.

Also Read: Apple Under Tim Cook: 20x jump in market cap, quadruple sales and moreContinue Reading(Edited by : Amrita)TagsAppleTim Cook