Apple Inc. has expanded the job of hardware chief John Ternus to include design work, solidifying his status as CEO Tim Cook’s most-likely successor.
Cook, who has led the iPhone maker since 2011 and turned 65 in November, quietly tapped Ternus to manage the company’s hardware and software design teams at the end of 2025, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday citing people aware of the matter.
That widens Ternus’ role to add one of the company’s most critical functions. He is now the “executive sponsor” of Apple’s design teams—on paper, the teams still report to Cook.
Having Ternus oversee the design teams while they still technically report to Cook is a strange arrangement, according to Apple employees Bloomberg spoke with. But it’s a sensitive situation. Changing the reporting structure would affirm Ternus’ status as a rising star, at a time when the company is still keeping its succession planning under wraps.
To be sure, there are no signs of Tim Cook stepping down as Apple CEO any time soon. The only other viable CEO candidate is COO Sabih Khan.
Apple’s design team has been overseen by the most prominent figures in the company’s history—iPhone designer Jony Ive until 2019, Cook between 2015-2017 and former COO Jeff Williams from 2019 to 2025.
Ternus now joins that list.
John Ternus: A brief profile
Ternus joined Apple in 2001 on the product design team to work with external monitors. He rose steadily through the ranks to become the vice president of hardware engineering in 2013. He oversaw the development of the iPad and AirPods in this role.
By 2020, Ternus was looking at iPhone hardware as well. The following year, he was promoted to senior vice president of hardware engineering—a position he currently holds on paper—and joined the executive leadership team, reporting directly to Cook.
An engineering graduate from Penn University, Ternus is credited with leading the complex transition of the Mac line-up to Apple Silicon from Intel chips—widely regarded as one of the pivotal moments in Apple’s storied history.
Why him as Apple CEO after Tim Cook
At 50, Ternus is the youngest member of Apple’s executive team, giving him the longest potential runway as chief executive. He is well regarded by Cook and former COO Williams and is viewed by board members as a leader capable of reshaping Apple’s devices for the AI era.
Still, Apple is fundamentally all about hardware—something Ternus excels at and controls. With the hardware and software design teams effectively under his wing, he now controls practically the entire value chain of iPhone to Mac and AirPods.
To be sure, Apple has been subtly raising his public profile. He is now a fixture at Apple Events, unveiling the all-new iPhone 17 Air at the 2025 edition. His working style is seen as an in-between of Tim Cook’s operational rigour and Steve Jobs’ product vision—crucial to run a multi-trillion-dollar enterprise.