Apple is not looking outside for a chief design officer. Chief executive John Ternus is doing the job himself, according to Bloomberg News’ Mark Gurman.
In his Power On newsletter, Gurman reports that Ternus has immersed himself in the company’s industrial design and human interface teams since becoming CEO on September 1st. People familiar with the department say he works hands-on in the design studio several times a week, sometimes returning more than once in a single day. That is a sharp change from Tim Cook, who typically visited for about an hour once a month at most, Gurman writes.
Ternus already had some involvement with the studio as head of hardware engineering, because the two functions have to stay closely coordinated. His role has widened since he took the top job. Gurman describes him as having effectively chosen himself as the overall design leader, even though Apple has not formally named him chief design officer.
The two groups still have their own heads: Molly Anderson in industrial design and Steve Lemay in human interface design. Apple has not had a single executive over both functions since Jony Ive left in 2019. Ternus began overseeing design before he became CEO. After former chief operating officer Jeff Williams retired in 2025, the teams formally reported to Cook but, in practice, began answering to Ternus. During the April-to-September transition, the design leaders were effectively his only direct reports, Gurman reports.
The shift matches how Ternus is splitting the rest of the job. He is largely leaving finance to chief financial officer Kevan Parekh and the supply chain to chief operating officer Sabih Khan, and is spending product time with chief hardware officer Johny Srouji and hardware engineering leader Tom Marieb.
Gurman also recounts a conversation between Ternus and Cook in which Ternus was told to be himself rather than copy his predecessor. Cook had focused on the areas where he could create the most value for Apple — operations, sales, financial strategy, and the supply chain. Ternus, a hardware engineer, is putting his time into engineering and design instead.
MacDailyNews Take: It is so very nice to finally have a product guy back at Apple’s helm! It bodes very well for the company’s future after a decade and a half slog of iteration and financial engineering. We can’t wait to see what Ternus & Co. create!
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“Apple is not looking outside for a chief design officer”
Obviously not they already have a hardware design leader and a UX design leader.
Done.
“Cook had focused on the areas where he could create the most value for Apple — operations, sales, financial strategy, and the supply chain.”
BS.
Cook was interested in and pursued what would increase the stock price, whether that was borrowing huge sums and thus making Wall Street happy, or barely tweaking products to keep costs down and profits up. Cook had zero interest in adding “value” to Apple.
Jobs had it right. Make Apple the best company it can be and that will drive profits and stock price. When asked how Apple was going to dig itself out of the hole it was in back in the late 90 (“The Dark Days”), Jobs said Apple was going to focus on innovation to make Apple and its products the best they can be. Cook instead focused on profits and stock price. I will always argue that Jobs idea of “adding value” to Apple was, and always will be, far, far superior to Tim Cook’s idea of “adding value” to Apple.
Hopefully, Ternus is more in line with the Jobs philosophy.
Per the conversation noted, wouldn’t a (good) CEO–that knew his “limitations’ (don’t copy your predecessor)–fill the gap with someone that could drive engineering and design?
How could you not when you are amidst a co with a renown legacy? Creating value in-line with one’s skill is good/expected, but to leave the other sector to atrophy is more than curious…and that’s what he effectively did.
Stock price up = good. Materially disregarding what got the stock price there = bizarre.
hopefully he is looking to change that corny mac studio look.
It’s interesting to see how Ternus is so hands-on with design compared to Tim Cook. That personal involvement might lead to some cool new products. I wonder if Apple’s focus will shift more under his leadership.
This is not necessarily a good thing. He is an engineer, not a designer. Jobs had an eye for design. We have yet to find out if Ternus does. If he does not, the beauty and elegance and “cool” of Apple products could greatly diminish. People in powerful positions are not typically known for recognizing their own weaknesses.