A new CEO with a hardware background—how can he lead Apple to win the AI war?
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Tech giants are racing fiercely in the AI arms race, and Apple’s choice in this wave may be hidden in this leadership change.
On Monday, Apple announced that John Ternus will officially take over as CEO on September 1st this year, succeeding Tim Cook, who has led the company for 15 years. Cook will become Executive Chairman. The 50-year-old Ternus has worked at Apple for 25 years, previously long serving as head of hardware engineering and leading the development and launch of multiple product lines such as iPad and AirPods.
This leadership change comes at a critical juncture for Apple. The company has maintained its $4 trillion market capitalization thanks to strong iPhone sales, but is clearly lagging behind Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta in the AI field. Apple has not yet launched its own foundational model, the major upgrade of its core voice assistant Siri has been delayed, and it currently relies mainly on Google’s Gemini to support AI functionality.
Analysts point out that this hardware chief with a mechanical engineering background will lead the world’s most valuable tech company to find its next growth engine in the era of artificial intelligence. Whether Ternus can accelerate Apple’s breakthrough in AI will be the most crucial strategic question in his new role.
Decisive, Faction-Free, Close to the Frontline: An Internal Profile of Ternus
If Jobs was the product visionary and Cook was the supply chain master, then Ternus is the first internal successor cultivated at Apple post-Jobs era.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Ternus is known internally for being decisive and good at collaboration. In a company historically known for strong personalities, he has made almost no enemies. Apple employees describe that he is goal-oriented in meetings, proactively drives decision-making, and prefers to communicate directly with frontline employees most familiar with products, rather than relying on messages passed down traditional management chains.
In recent months, Apple has been gradually increasing Ternus’s exposure. He has presented the new iPhone Air at launch events, greeted customers buying new products on the first day at Apple’s flagship store in the UK, and released the new MacBook Neo last month. At Apple’s 50th-anniversary celebration, the only two people appearing on stage together were Cook and Ternus.
Under AI Catch-up Pressure, Can Ternus’s Hardware Strategy Break the Deadlock?
As Ternus takes over Apple, the company faces significant pressure to catch up in AI. While Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta are jointly investing hundreds of billions of dollars yearly on building data centers and purchasing AI chips, Apple has chosen a different path—betting that AI computation will migrate to on-device local chips in the coming years, thus leveraging its traditional strengths in deep hardware and software integration. However, this strategy does not mean Apple is conservative in capital expenditure. In fact, Apple is also accelerating its investment, but focusing on device-side computing rather than cloud clusters.
Currently, Apple’s AI functionality centers on the “Apple Intelligence” product line, offering features such as image generation, notification summaries, and integration with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, receiving mixed market responses. Notably, ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude rank first and second on the App Store’s free apps chart, Gemini is fourth, and Meta AI is eighth—these third-party AI products are rapidly penetrating Apple’s own platform.
According to Bloomberg, Apple is speeding up the development of three AI wearable devices centered around Siri, including smart glasses, pendant devices, and AirPods equipped with cameras. In addition, Apple is expected to launch a foldable phone. Creative Strategies analyst Ben Bajarin calls this “the most transformative hardware moment in years.”
Timothy Hubbard, Assistant Professor of Management at the University of Notre Dame, stated:
“By appointing Ternus, who has a hardware background, as CEO, Apple may be sending a signal—the company still believes the future of AI will be realized through highly integrated devices, not just software.”
The Mac Mini Story: A Decisive Update Demonstrates His Hardware Philosophy
Ternus’s concept of “driving the ecosystem through hardware integration” has been evident throughout his career.
During his time leading Apple’s hardware engineering department, he was deeply involved in the transition of the entire Mac line to Apple’s own silicon chips, one of the most important milestones in his career.
The Mac Mini was once in urgent need of an update. At that time, the AI revolution had not yet arrived, and this product was far from the global phenomenon it would later become. However, software developers were already in urgent need of a new version with upgraded chips. However, redesigning the Mini’s shell might require industrial design guru Jony Ive's team to devote significant resources, possibly delaying the product launch.
According to sources, after judging that the existing design needed no major changes, Ternus decisively ordered the update to move forward. He did not dwell on the product’s profit potential but emphasized its value to Apple’s overall ecosystem. This is just one example of his many actions—decisive decision-making, a deep understanding of Apple’s culture and products, and the ability to efficiently drive execution internally.
Now, an AI strategy similarly rooted in hardware integration awaits this incoming CEO’s judgement.
Monetizing Services and the Privacy Paradox: Ternus’s Other AI Battle
In addition to hardware strategy, Ternus must promote AI monetization in Apple’s services business. Currently, Apple’s service revenues mainly rely on iPhone users paying subscriptions for AppleCare, iCloud, and Apple TV+, as well as taking a cut from in-app subscriptions on third-party generative AI services like ChatGPT and Claude.
Another more subtle contradiction lies in the inherent conflict between privacy and personalization. Under Cook, Apple established “privacy first” as a key differentiator from Meta and Google; however, AI-driven personalized services are fundamentally built on data collection. As AI penetration increases, the tension between these two factors will become even sharper.
Gene Munster, partner at Deepwater Asset Management, said his firm has recently increased its holdings of Apple stock and is optimistic about Apple’s outlook in “personalized AI.” “Apple has the opportunity to tell investors a highly compelling story,” Munster said.
Forrester analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee, however, warned of risks: “In the next few years, Apple will face stormy seas, as the way consumers interact with technology is undergoing huge change, especially with the impact brought by generative AI.”
Strong on Execution, Innovation Under Scrutiny: Can Ternus Carry Apple’s AI Banner?
Both supporters and critics of Ternus point to a core question: is this hardware chief, known for prudence and execution, equipped with the risk-taking spirit needed to launch innovative products in the AI era?
According to sources, Ternus is not known for betting on high-risk decisions, which leaves some observers doubtful whether he can fill the product vision gap Apple has had since Jobs's death.
Meanwhile, Ternus is actively carrying out Apple’s cultural legacy. He has repeatedly addressed employees to reaffirm Jobs’s policy of product secrecy, requiring no one to speak externally about unreleased products.
Apple will announce its fiscal Q2 performance next week, with Cook still serving as CEO. However, investors’ eyes are already turning to Ternus, and the kind of AI future he will chart for Apple.
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