John Ternus, Apple’s head of hardware engineering, reportedly just added an even more critical role at the company, being put in charge of design for the first time.
It’s being suggested that the intent of the change is to give Ternus the experience needed to someday become Apple CEO.
John Ternus reportedly now in charge of Apple design
John Ternus is Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, but that doesn’t mean he’s in charge of the teams that design Macs, iPhones and other devices. His department’s role is to turn the designs developed by others into salable products.
But that changed at the end of 2025, with CEO Tim Cook giving the executive an expanded role, according to an unconfirmed report from Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman published Wednesday.
“Cook, who has led Apple since 2011 and turned 65 in November, quietly tapped Ternus to manage the company’s design teams at the end of last year,” said Bloomberg.
Design is a critical part of Apple’s success
Some companies work out how to make products function, then think about how they’ll look. Not Apple — design comes first, then it’s up to Hardware Engineering to make the designs into reality. That’s one of the secrets to Apple’s success.
Assuming the Bloomberg report is correct, Ternus is now responsible for both these critical stages. Giving him formal oversight of both design and hardware means he’s now influencing how products look and how they work. That’s a much broader leadership role than before.
John Ternus seems headed to take over for Tim Cook someday
Tim Cook has been CEO of Apple since even before the death of co-founder Steve Jobs. After more than a decade at the top spot, and nearing retirement age, he’s reportedly tiring to the point that he wants less daily responsibility for running the company.
That supposedly doesn’t mean Cook is preparing to step down in the near future. He just wants his subordinates to take on more responsibility. It seems John Ternus is doing exactly that by managing both product design and execution.
Plus, he’s the odds-on favorite to step into Cook’s shoes when the current top executive eventually bows out. As such, he needs design experience if he’s going to be another successful Apple CEO.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 25 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh Classic II (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer. He’s written for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview, and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
