LAHORE MIRROR ( AFP) — John Ternus takes over as Apple’s chief executive on Tuesday, inheriting a company that towers over the smartphone market but trails its rivals in artificial intelligence (AI).
One of his biggest challenges will be balancing the company’s dependence on China while parrying acute political pressure from the White House.
The handover ends Tim Cook’s 15-year run, replacing the operations specialist who built Apple’s supply chain with the engineer who built its hardware.
John Ternus, 51, joined Apple’s design team in 2001 and worked his way up to senior vice president of hardware engineering, reporting to Cook.
He leads the engineering teams behind Apple’s entire product lineup, including the iPhones that generate most of the company’s revenue.
He gets barely a week to settle in, with Apple holding its annual iPhone event on September 9, where it is expected to unveil its first foldable handset.
“Tim Cook left the house in phenomenal order,” said Dan Ives, partner and senior managing director at investment firm Yorkville Ives & Co.
“But now it’s about Ternus defining the AI chapter.”
The new Apple chief earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and worked as an engineer at Virtual Research Systems before joining Apple.
Inside the company he is credited with driving a push to make products more durable, reliable and resilient, and with design work that cut their carbon footprint.
