John Ternus: Ten things to know about Apple’s next CEO

Tim Cook is moving on. And up. But after an exceptionally impressive run at Apple, he is not leaving the CEO chair empty. Cook, in his retirement announcement, has named his heir to the Cupertino throne. Along with his change of role in the company (he now moves up to Executive Chairman), Cook very warmly introduced John Ternus as the next CEO of Apple.

While Ternus is an Apple veteran and a familiar face seen in keynote presentations, he has still managed to keep a very low profile and an arm’s distance from the media. As a result, people know him without knowing much about him. So who exactly is John Ternus? We put our research hats on and dug out what we could about the man. Here are ten really interesting facts about Apple’s CEO in Waiting:

An engineer and a champion swimmer

Ternus went to the University of Pennsylvania to receive a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering, but there, he was not a geeky wizard known (just) for engineering marvels. The man has actually been a university-level athlete and was a standout competitive swimmer for the UPenn Varsity team. He bagged gold in both 50-meter freestyle and 200-meter individual medley at college-level competitions, and because he represented the university so often in these competitions, he was named “all-time letter winner” for the UPenn men’s swimming team.

(Robotic) Arms and the Man

At college, young Ternus built gadgets that could help quadriplegic people. For his senior year project, Ternus made a mechanical ‘feeding arm’ which could be controlled by simple head movements. Given Apple’s obsession with Accessibility features and the constant desire to make its devices more inclusive, we bet there will be some very ‘handy’ gadgets added to Apple’s portfolio.

We are VR!

While his most notable work is in the product space, Ternus actually kicked off his career working in virtual reality. Ternus, after graduating, joined Virtual Research Systems as a mechanical engineer and stayed with the company for four years before joining Apple. Virtual Research Systems was a startup that focused on building VR technology and hardware well before it became mainstream. This core knowledge, many believe, was key to his involvement with Apple’s stint with VR. It could also be key to its progress.

The kid in Apple’s senior leadership team

Ternus was quite young when he joined Apple. It was his second gig after graduating from college. But this did not stop him from climbing the role ladder with speed and ease. He started at Apple in 2001 as a member of the product design team, and proceeded to bag one important role after another. He became the Vice President of Hardware Engineering in 2013 and then took on the Senior Vice President’s role in January 2021, becoming at 45, the youngest member of Apple’s senior leadership team.

Familiar but not known

Unlike many high-profile executives who are always in the news, Ternus has never really been a media person. He is not completely unknown either, as we have seen him in a number of keynote presentations, explaining improvements and additions, but he is not the kind of figure that, say, a Craig Federighi or Phil Schiller is. We do not know whether this is a corporate or personal preference, but we are sure this will change soon enough.

Proper product person with fingerprints all over many Apple products

While Tim Cook was known for his logistical wizardry, Ternus is very much a “product person.” For over two decades, he has been deeply involved in shaping Apple’s hardware portfolio. The iPads, AirPods, and Apple Vision Pro were all developed under his direction. He has also worked on making the Apple Watch, the new iPhone lineup, including the iPhone Air, and is also credited for creating the latest Apple offering, the MacBook Neo. See why he shot up that corporate ladder?!

Intel Outside: Tern-ing from Intel to Apple Silicon

Although he has been involved in a number of Apple’s products, one of Ternus’ greatest achievements at Apple was driving the transition from Intel chips to Apple Silicon ones. The move represented a massive change in Apple’s product strategy, giving the brand its own platform and freeing it from depending on Intel. Although the move was resisted by many Intel Mac users (particularly those who had gotten used to running Windows apps on Macs), the strategy has paid rich dividends for Apple, with Apple Silicon driving most of its products, strengthening the platform.

He’s on LinkedIn! Well…barely

As befitting a Vice President at Apple, Ternus has a page on LinkedIn with a sizable following. But before you rush to your laptop to check it out, let us tell you that it is more basic than basic can be. For the longest time, Ternus did not even have a profile photo. That has changed now, and his last ‘Experience’ update on his page is Vice President, Hardware Engineering at Apple. So, basically, he is there. But not really. Come September, and you bet the traffic to the page will zoom when he updates his work profile!

Expected successor, as per Gurman and FT

As we keep pointing out, Ternus is not exactly a media figure, but Mark Gurman, a notable tech journalist known for his coverage of Apple, had predicted that he would be the next obvious CEO of the company a couple of years ago. The Financial Times had also referred to Ternus as a frontrunner in the race to be the next Apple CEO. Clearly, those in the know knew that Ternus’ time would come, and what Tim was Cooking.

“Affable” and becoming CEO at the same age as Cook

Ternus has been described as “an affable mechanical engineer” and is supposed to share the calm manner of Tim Cook, whom he refers to as his mentor. Incidentally, Ternus will be 51 when he officially takes the reins as CEO of Apple, which is the same age as when Tim Cook officially took office. That is likely to be a coincidence, but it makes him young enough to stay in the CEO position for at least a decade, if all goes well. His age is also a point of confidence for investors and board members as it signifies stability for the long term at the top office.