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This September, Apple will have a new CEO ready to unveil the company's new products as Tim Cook steps aside to become executive chairman of the board of directors. John Ternus, who spoke to Tom's Guide this month, is set to take the reins and inherit probably the most high-profile job in the consumer tech industry.
Many analysts suspected that Ternus was next in line for the top job and the legacy that Cook leaves behind will be a tough one to follow. Cook himself had the unenviable task of following on from Steve Jobs following his passing in 2011, but the growth of Apple into the behemoth it is now has happened under Cook's leadership.
"Cook inherited a $350 billion company and handed over a $4 trillion one. The scale of that value creation, sustained over a decade and a half through multiple technology cycles, economic shocks, and a global pandemic, is extraordinary by any measure," said Francisco Jeronimo, VP for Data and Analytics at IDC EMEA.
Article continues below"He deserves full credit for making Apple one of the most profitable companies in the world."
Cook oversaw the launch of some of Apple's biggest hit products, like the Apple Watch and AirPods, but his real genius was moving Apple into services and reducing its reliance on third parties by developing its own class-leading silicon.
Apple itself notes that during Cook's tenure, Apple's services business alone is worth more than $100 billion, the equivalent of a Fortune 40 company.
Dipanjan Chatterjee, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester, added: "Cook’s legacy will be defined by steady, disciplined operational stewardship — proof that a company can be more than just exciting and visionary; it can also be immensely valuable to all its stakeholders."
The challenge for Ternus
John Ternus has worked at Apple since 2001 and worked under both Jobs and Cook. He intimately understands the company's hardware, but the challenge ahead will be to manage Apple at a time when it's behind on AI and the iPhone upgrade cycle is maturing, with users holding onto their devices for longer.
"The iPhone has driven Apple's growth story for nearly two decades. It remains the company's largest revenue contributor and the anchor of its ecosystem," said Jeronimo.
"But the upgrade cycle is lengthening, saturation in premium markets is real, and the next significant wave of consumer technology is not about the phone. It is about AI. And this is where the strategic pressure on Ternus will be most acute.
"Ternus has the technical credibility to understand what needs to be built. The question is whether he has the appetite for the kind of bold, occasionally uncomfortable decisions that defining a new platform requires. Building great hardware is a well-defined problem. Building an AI platform that developers and enterprises genuinely adopt is a different challenge entirely."
Ternus represents a quiet pivot back toward product intimacy.
Dipanjan Chatterjee, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester
Chatterjee agrees with this sentiment: “The baton will pass effortlessly to Ternus, an insider. But he must resist the temptation of incrementalism that has plagued Apple of late and escape the iPhone’s gravitational pull in his quest for the next disruptive form factor. As Ternus assumes the helm, he must define Apple's future as ferociously as he defends its past.
"Ternus represents a quiet pivot back toward product intimacy, a tighter coupling between hardware, software, and emerging AI capabilities."
The first big test for John Ternus will be how he delivers the new products Apple has lined up for September 2026. This is likely to include the iPhone Fold, Apple's first entry into the foldable phone market.
As a hardware engineer, Ternus will probably knock it out of the park — but then the real test of whether he's the right man to succeed Jobs and Cook will begin.
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