John Ternus Begins as Apple CEO Ahead of iPhone Event

John Ternus has officially become Apple’s CEO, succeeding Tim Cook after Cook’s fifteen years in the role. Ternus previously served as the company’s senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering.

Apple will hold its annual iPhone event on September 9. The event is rumored to include the launch of Apple’s first foldable iPhone. Apple is also expected to roll out its new-and-improved Siri AI more broadly, giving the company an opportunity to position Siri against chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude.

In a memo to staff on Tuesday, Ternus wrote that Apple had “a huge launch next week” that would be “phenomenal,” according to Bloomberg. He also expressed excitement about products already in development and future products the company has not yet imagined.

Apple is rumored to be working on several other products, including camera-equipped AirPods, smart glasses, and a touchscreen laptop.

Cook wrote in his final-day message to staff that he took “enormous comfort” in handing leadership to Ternus and praised his ability to build products that change the world.