John Ternus Emerges as Apple's De Facto Design Chief [Gurman]

Apple is not searching for an outside chief design officer as CEO John Ternus takes a hands-on role overseeing its hardware and software design teams, according to Mark Gurman in his latest Power On newsletter.

People familiar with the department say Ternus works in the design studio several times a week, sometimes returning multiple times in one day. Designers describe a substantial change from Tim Cook, who typically visited for about an hour once a month at most.

The new CEO is largely leaving financial operations to Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh and the supply chain to Chief Operating Officer Sabih Khan. Product work takes more of his attention, including time with Chief Hardware Officer Johny Srouji and hardware engineering leader Tom Marieb.

Ternus assumed oversight of design before becoming CEO. After former COO Jeff Williams retired in 2025, the design teams formally reported to Cook but began answering to his successor in practice. During the April-to-September CEO transition, the design leaders were effectively Ternus's only direct reports.

The two groups continue to have their own leaders: Molly Anderson in Industrial Design and Steve Lemay in Human Interface Design. Apple has not had a single dedicated chief overseeing both functions since Jony Ive left in 2019. Gurman describes Ternus as having effectively chosen himself as the overall design leader.

Apple highlighted Anderson and Lemay during the iPhone Duo launch, with the pair introducing the device in a joint video and Anderson posing with Ternus and the phone. Anderson has led industrial design since 2024, while Lemay succeeded Alan Dye after his move to Meta.

Restoring the studio's standing within Apple is one of Ternus's priorities as the department rebuilds after a series of senior design departures. Staff losses to LoveFrom, OpenAI and other companies led to promotions of junior designers and more outside hiring. Belgian furniture designer Julien Renault joined the industrial design team last week.