Apple has folded the company’s design organization into the remit of John Ternus, its senior vice-president for hardware engineering, in a move that strengthens his control over two of the company’s most tightly linked functions: hardware engineering and product design. The shift, made quietly at the end of last year, places stewardship of the look, feel and engineering of Apple devices squarely under one executive’s purview, a role long treated inside Apple as central to its identity and commercial success.
Tim Cook, who turned 65 in November and has led Apple since 2011, has overseen a succession of internal reorganisations that preserve operational continuity while keeping Apple’s culture of secrecy intact. Expanding Ternus’s remit ties him directly to the product aesthetic and user experience that have been defining features of Apple since the Steve Jobs era, and it elevates him in the informal pecking order of possible successors.
The appointment matters because design at Apple has historically been a strategic lever, not merely a cosmetic department. From Jony Ive’s tenure through the post-Ive period of distributed design ownership, Apple’s competitive advantage has been built on tightly integrated hardware, software and industrial design; consolidating those responsibilities reduces friction in cross-disciplinary decisions and speeds execution on product strategy.
Operationally, the move simplifies accountability for new hardware categories and complex product launches. Apple is pursuing next-generation devices and AI-enhanced experiences that require coordinated design and engineering inputs; putting both under Ternus may help the company iterate faster and present a single vision to suppliers, partners and markets.
For investors and rivals the signal is twofold: succession planning is active inside Apple, and the company is prioritising cohesion between engineering and design as it navigates slower smartphone growth and expands into new product categories. The change is unlikely to produce dramatic public shifts overnight, but it tightens internal control over the elements that have historically defined Apple’s premium positioning.
The personnel move also reshapes internal power dynamics. Concentrating hardware and design authority in one executive reduces the number of senior leaders who must reconcile competing priorities, but it also makes that individual a focal point for responsibility if flagship products falter. The choice of Ternus—an engineering leader rather than a marketing or software figure—suggests Apple values operational rigor in its next phase of product development.
Finally, the elevation indicates how Apple is preparing for its next leadership transition: quietly, incrementally and through expanded operational responsibility rather than headline-grabbing announcements. That approach mirrors Cook’s own ascent and reflects a corporate preference for promoting from within, preserving both institutional memory and the company’s closely held design ethos.