John Ternus inherits Apple empire with challenge of closing AI gap

Published: 2026-04-21 17:53:11 ET AAPL

Published on 04/21/2026 at 05:53 pm EDT

By Sarah Yáñez-Richards

New York, Apr 21 (EFE).- Apple will enter a new era on Sep. 1 when John Ternus, the current head of hardware engineering, takes over as Chief Executive Officer. It's a chapter where the bitten-apple company will have to face major challenges, such as gaining ground in the artificial intelligence race.

Apple's press release on Monday announcing leadership changes made no mention of the company's AI, "Apple Intelligence."

Apple also made headlines for the lack of AI announcements at its last annual WWDC event in 2025.

Back in Jun. 2025, during the WWDC, executives mentioned Apple Intelligence and highlighted live translation features, but the Siri personalization functions, first announced at WWDC 2024, have been delayed until now, with no official information on a launch date.

Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, stated at the time that the Siri updates needed more time to reach the company's high standard of quality.

The company's strategy has been cautious so far, relying on third parties by integrating OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini into its operating systems instead of developing its own model.

To date, Apple Intelligence can generate images, rewrite texts, and summarize push notifications on its own. This lags significantly behind the capabilities of ChatGPT or Anthropic's Claude, which are currently the two most popular free iOS apps.

A hardware leader

The sections dedicated to Ternus in Monday's statement focused on his quarter-century at the company and his fundamental role in "the introduction of multiple new product lines, including iPad and AirPods, as well as many generations of products across iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch."

"By choosing a hardware leader in John Ternus, Apple may be signaling that it still believes the future of AI will run through tightly integrated devices, not just software," Timothy Hubbard, an assistant professor of management at the University of Notre Dame, told CNBC.

Specialized media suggests that the choice of a hardware leader indicates Apple is confident that the future of AI will involve integrated devices, such as smart glasses, pins, or AirPods with cameras, and not just the cloud.

The complex geopolitical landscape

Beyond the product, the new CEO inherits a complex geopolitical landscape due to the United States' tariffs and international conflicts affecting the production chain.

Current CEO Tim Cook managed to navigate the tensions between the US and China with diplomacy.

As of Tuesday, US President Donald Trump recounted on his social media that his bond with Apple's CEO was cemented following a phone call at the beginning of his presidency in 2017, in which Cook asked for help resolving a "large" corporate issue that required government intervention.

"I was very impressed with myself to have the head of Apple calling to 'kiss my ass'," Trump posted.

Starting Sep. 1, Cook will transition to Executive Chairman of Apple's board of directors, and John Ternus will take over as Chief Executive Officer. EFE