Commentary: What John Ternus needs to address at Apple
In September, a new CEO will take the helm at Apple. While Apple performed well under Tim Cook, John Ternus must tackle various future projects.
New Apple CEO John Ternus: He has a lot to do.
(Image: Apple / Bearbeitung: heise medien)
Tim Cook has undeniably turned Apple into an incredible money-making machine. From January to March 2026 alone, the company achieved more revenue and more profit than in the entire fiscal year 2011, when Cook took over as CEO. That's something to ponder.
Instead of futilely playing the role of product visionary, Cook took the groundbreaking products created under Jobs and Ive and scaled them to unimagined heights.
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He achieved similar success with the services business, which is now the second-largest pillar after the iPhone. And Cook undoubtedly set important directions regarding data protection, security, environmental protection, and health features.
However, to build the ultra-efficient supply chain, Cook entered into deep dependence on China.
Apple's ruthlessly managed services division also increasingly harbors downsides: this ranges from frustrated developers and increasingly suspicious competition authorities to annoyed customers who do not want to see advertising or subscription upselling in operating systems and Apple apps.
Fundamental product innovations were scarce in the Cook era: the two biggest hits – Watch and AirPods – do not stand on their own, as Apple designed them as iPhone accessories. There has been little movement in Apple Home in recent years. Cook himself has already cut bolder projects like the "Apple Car."
The Vision Pro made it to market, but has barely moved since. And Apple has slept through generative AI and still has to prove that it can deliver anything meaningful here.
Now, with John Ternus, an engineer, the next chapter at Apple's helm is about to begin. We currently do not know where his priorities lie.
However, the MacBook Neo offers hope: Instead of dragging older model lines along for years, as was all too common under Cook, Apple has made the effort to rebuild an affordable computer. Hopefully, this was just the beginning of a long series of exciting hardware innovations.
This commentary first appeared as an editorial in Mac & i 3/2026 – now fresh on the newsstand and in the heise shop.
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(mki)
