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. Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon. The post New Apple CEO is far more involved in design than predecessor appeared first on MacDailyNews. You're currently a free subscriber to MacDailyNews. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
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