Apple’s hardware engineering chief John Ternus is widely seen as the top contender to become the company's next CEO.
John Ternus is well-liked among Apple's leadership.
Ternus also reportedly helped with reversing a trend of declining product quality at Apple.
There has been a lot of discussion recently about the future leadership of Apple. While CEO Tim Cook has not announced his retirement plans, many people are wondering who could lead the company after him. Cook has been Apple’s CEO since 2011 and has played a big role in expanding the company’s products and services over the past decade. He recently turned 65, which is often seen as a common retirement age for many executives.
SurveyA new report suggests that one senior Apple executive could be the strongest candidate to take over in the future. According to a detailed profile by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple’s hardware engineering chief John Ternus is widely seen as the top contender to become the company’s next CEO whenever Cook decides to step down.
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Why John Ternus may succeed Tim Cook as CEO
The report explains that Ternus has slowly built a strong reputation inside Apple. According to the report, he is ‘well-liked among Apple’s leadership’ and has won the support of several members of Cook’s senior employees.
Ternus has been leading Apple’s hardware engineering team since 2021. During this time, he has been responsible for several improvements across Apple products. Gurman wrote, ‘Since getting the top hardware engineering role in 2021, he’s overseen an expansion in Apple’s product lineup, improving quality and focusing on functional improvements around battery life, performance and connectivity.’
The report also says that Ternus helped with ‘reversing a trend of declining product quality’ at Apple.
Ternus’ responsibilities inside the company have been increasing over time. At the end of last year, Cook reportedly gave him oversight of Apple’s design teams.
He has also started appearing more often in public. In recent years, Ternus has been part of interviews and has appeared in Apple’s product launch videos, making him more visible to the public and the tech industry.
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Is Tim Cook planning to retire?
Even though there is speculation, Cook has not said when he plans to retire. According to the report, he has not shared his retirement plans even with some of his closest colleagues. In a recent interview, he said, ‘I can’t imagine life without Apple.’
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Ayushi Jain
Ayushi works as Chief Copy Editor at Digit, covering everything from breaking tech news to in-depth smartphone reviews. Prior to Digit, she was part of the editorial team at IANS. View Full Profile
