John Ternus is changing Tim Prepare dinner as Apple CEO. However he faces an enormous problem in AI

[ad_1] To anybody who pays shut consideration to Apple, Monday's CEO switch-up wasn't a shock.

The corporate's outgoing chief Tim Prepare dinner is approaching retirement age, at 65. He is helmed Apple for 15 years since co-founder Steve Jobs stepped away as a consequence of unwell well being, and he is taken the corporate from a market cap of $350 billion US to about $4 trillion US. And media had been reporting {that a} handover is perhaps within the works for months.

In the meantime, incoming head John Ternus — who's at the moment vice-president of {hardware} engineering and can step up as CEO on Sept. 1 — has had a much bigger position lately, typically taking the stage at new product launches. Most notably, it was Ternus, not Prepare dinner, who unveiled the brand new MacBook Neo at a stay occasion in New York Metropolis final month.

"The period of time executives get in entrance of an viewers for these product occasions corresponds to the place they're within the hierarchy [at Apple]," mentioned John Gruber, who writes the Daring Fireball weblog about all-things Apple. "And, you realize, Ternus has appeared increasingly during the last 5 years."

Ternus, regardless of not being a family title, has spent the previous 25 years at Apple overseeing some key adjustments for the corporate. However questions stay about how he'll govern, particularly as Apple navigates huge challenges associated to AI.

<img loading="lazy" alt="a man in a plain black tshirt stands on a stage introducing a new piece of technology. on the screen behind him, a child draws a picture using a stylus on an ipad" srcset="https://i.cbc.ca/ais/6e2e7235-6aca-4476-906f-70d1d43ec6b2,1776806967977/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C5084%2C3865%29%3BResize%3D796 796w,https://i.cbc.ca/ais/6e2e7235-6aca-4476-906f-70d1d43ec6b2,1776806967977/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C5084%2C3865%29%3BResize%3D1083 1083w,https://i.cbc.ca/ais/6e2e7235-6aca-4476-906f-70d1d43ec6b2,1776806967977/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C5084%2C3865%29%3BResize%3D1280 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 762px) calc(100vw - 32px),730px" src="https://i.cbc.ca/ais/6e2e7235-6aca-4476-906f-70d1d43ec6b2,1776806967977/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C5084%2C3865%29%3B" style="aspect-ratio:1.3153945666235447" data-cy="image-img"/> John Ternus, Apple's {hardware} engineer vice-president and newly introduced CEO, discusses the newest improvement for the iPad Professional throughout an occasion to announce new merchandise in New York in October 2018. (Bebeto Matthews/The Related Press) Who's John Ternus? A veteran of Apple, Ternus has spent most of his profession with the tech big.

He spent a quick interval with an organization known as Digital Analysis Techniques after graduating from the College of Pennsylvania with a mechanical engineering diploma.

Since becoming a member of Apple's product design workforce in 2001, Ternus rose to turn out to be vice-president of {hardware} engineering in 2013. He is overseen the {hardware} that goes into every iPhone, iPad and Mac — and has been a part of introducing new merchandise like AirPods, and the lately debuted sturdy-yet-affordable MacBook Neo.

"John Ternus has the thoughts of an engineer, the soul of an innovator and the center to guide with integrity and with honor," Prepare dinner mentioned of his successor within the firm's announcement, including he's "with out query" the correct individual to take over.

Gruber says Ternus's greatest mark on the corporate might be shepherding in Apple silicon — the corporate's in-house laptop chips.

Whereas Apple has used its personal chips in its telephones and iPads since 2010, Prepare dinner introduced in 2020 that the corporate would transition to its personal silicon chips in all merchandise, somewhat than counting on Intel for them. That enables it to make chips that perform precisely because it needs for every product, and permits extra options, like higher noise cancellation within the second-generation AirPods Professional.

"The entire Apple Silicon motion … John Ternus was straight concerned with," given his position in {hardware}, Gruber mentioned.

Chris Deaver, founding father of management consultancy agency BraveCore and former HR enterprise associate with Apple who has labored with Ternus, says the incoming CEO is an effective chief who's effectively revered internally.

"[I] was actually impressed by how collaborative a frontrunner he's and the way he is capable of deliver collectively groups … and construct actually robust relationships in order that loads of the technical stuff that occurs, they'll work by way of any friction and have form wholesome debates about it," Deaver mentioned.

<img loading="lazy" alt="a man with glasses smiles and holds up an iphone in one hand and a stylus pen in the other, in a crowded room at a product launch event." srcset="https://i.cbc.ca/ais/83b428c8-1b74-4710-8723-94f97767dd66,1776807357819/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C4059%2C2706%29%3BResize%3D796 796w,https://i.cbc.ca/ais/83b428c8-1b74-4710-8723-94f97767dd66,1776807357819/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C4059%2C2706%29%3BResize%3D1083 1083w,https://i.cbc.ca/ais/83b428c8-1b74-4710-8723-94f97767dd66,1776807357819/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C4059%2C2706%29%3BResize%3D1280 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 762px) calc(100vw - 32px),730px" src="https://i.cbc.ca/ais/83b428c8-1b74-4710-8723-94f97767dd66,1776807357819/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C4059%2C2706%29%3B" style="aspect-ratio:1.5" data-cy="image-img"/> Apple CEO Tim Prepare dinner holds new iPhones throughout an announcement of recent merchandise at Apple Park in September 2025 in Cupertino, Calif. After 15 years on the helm, Prepare dinner is stepping down as CEO as of Sept. 1. (Godofredo A. Vásquez/Related Press) Regardless of that popularity within the tech world, McMaster College enterprise professor Marvin Ryder says the truth that he isn't as well-known publicly provides Ternus one thing of a "clean sheet of paper" in how he will lead the corporate.

"The excellent news for Mr. Ternus is he can now write or draw no matter image he needs the world to see," Ryder mentioned, including he expects him to be extra like his predecessor Prepare dinner or a Jeff Bezos type of chief — targeted on inside issues somewhat than being an exterior "cheerleader" for the enterprise.

AI challenges lie forward Regardless of arriving early with its Siri voice assistant, Apple has since fallen behind within the AI race — and that is an enormous hurdle tech consultants agree Ternus should clear.

"The final two years haven't been good ones for Apple on the AI entrance," Gruber mentioned.

Whereas Apple launched Apple Intelligence in 2024, the capabilities weren't initially out there on tons of of tens of millions of iPhones and the tech hasn't been broadly adopted.

It additionally missed its personal goal for releasing an AI-powered model of Siri in 2025, and as a substitute says the improve is coming a while this yr — one thing uncommon for Apple, Gruber says, which often delivers on its guarantees.

Plus, privateness has lengthy been a core precept for the corporate. And given AI runs on large quantities of knowledge, Deaver says Apple has a novel problem in balancing the safety of that data. For instance, it partnered with Google to make use of Gemini within the new model of Siri, and consultants say Google's potential entry to consumer knowledge to enhance its algorithms is a priority.

WATCH | Apple mass exodus: Why prime expertise is saying iQuit: Apple mass exodus: Why prime expertise is saying iQuit

Prior to now few months, Apple has misplaced a number of key executives and there’s speak that long-time CEO Tim Prepare dinner may very well be on the point of step down. For The Nationwide, CBC’s Ashley Fraser breaks down what’s behind the departures and why some say the corporate’s AI program may very well be responsible. Monday's press launch from Apple did not contact on AI, or how Ternus plans to strategy it.

However Deaver mentioned it is typical for the corporate to not be an early mover.

"They're by no means considering being the primary. They're at all times considering being the perfect," he mentioned, noting he expects the corporate is probably going approaching AI capabilities equally.

Nonetheless, with Ternus's background being in {hardware} somewhat than software program, some have questioned whether or not he's the correct individual to helm Apple within the AI period. Nonetheless, Gruber says these critiques is perhaps short-sighted.

"In the identical means that they did not need to recruit anyone with cellphone expertise from outdoors the corporate … when cellular was occurring, and so they did not need to turn out to be an web firm within the late [1990s], I believe it is true that Apple can keep on with what it does finest," Gruber mentioned.

And which means constructing nice computer systems which are user-friendly for "non-computer consultants," in keeping with Gruber. He says Apple's transfer to make Ternus its CEO telegraphs that the corporate will stay targeted on {hardware} because it strikes ahead. Cementing itself because the {hardware} maker that runs AI software program from different firms may in itself be its AI technique.

"Regardless of how huge part of everyone's day by day life AI turns into, you are going to want gadgets to work together with it by way of. And who higher than Apple to make these gadgets?"