Apple’s John Ternus just became the new Jony Ive

It’s been reported that CEO Tim Cook’s time at Apple is nearing an end, and Apple is grooming his replacement. We have another clue to who that may be: In a new report, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said that Apple Senior Vice President John Ternus now manages the company’s design teams. The assignment of new duties was made by Cook at the end of last year.

Speculation about Cook’s tenure as CEO started to heat up last year. Cook turns 65 in November, and several reports have stated that the gears are in motion to prepare for the end of Cook’s run. Gurman has reported that Ternus is the leading candidate to replace Cook, but a change isn’t “imminent.” However, his reporting makes it clear that Ternus is a rising star within Apple Park.

Ternus’ new responsibilities seem to give credence to him being the leading CEO candidate. Gurman reports that, in his role as SVP of hardware engineering, Ternus had already been working with the company’s hardware design team. But now Ternus is leading the group that develops Apple’s software interfaces.

To further expand on the importance of the new responsibilities, Gurman posted on X that only “the very most prominent figures in Apple history” have overseen the whole design team. Gurman also reports that Cook is “trying to expose Ternus to more parts of the company’s operations.”

Apple’s executive ranks had major changes last year. Jeff Williams, who was COO and previously led the design team, retired. Apple AI chief John Giannandrea is also retiring, as is VP Lisa Jackson and SVP and general council Kate Adams. Alan Dye, who leads Apple’s user interface design team, is leaving for Meta.