Apple has expanded the responsibilities of Cook's likely successor. He's now in charge of design

Apple has expanded the area of responsibility of Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering John Ternus, giving him oversight of one of the most important areas for the company - design, Bloomberg reported citing sources. This strengthens the status of Ternus as the main candidate for the next head of the company, the agency said.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has non-publicly tasked John Ternus with leading the design teams at the end of 2025, which means handing him one of the most important roles in the company, sources told Bloomberg. Since the days of Steve Jobs, the success of Apple products has been closely tied to how they look and feel to users. In Apple, the management of design for a long period was entrusted to one of the top managers, the agency writes. In recent years, this function was performed by Jony Ive (until his departure in 2019), Tim Cook himself (temporarily, from 2015 to 2017) and his main associate, Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams, who will leave the company at the end of 2025.

Inside the company, Ternus is now called an executive sponsor on Cook's team - a liaison between the design teams and management, Bloomberg's interlocutors said. Ternus represents the direction at meetings of top managers and coordinates the work of their leaders, the agency added.

An Apple spokesperson declined to comment to Bloomberg.

Bloomberg called John Ternus the most likely successor to 65-year-old Tim Cook as Apple CEO. Now there are no signs of Cook leaving his post soon, and when it happens, he is expected to move to the post of chairman of the board of directors, the agency notes. Apple in January proposed to shareholders that current board head Art Levinson (who is 75) be retained at a meeting in February. That could mean a change of chairman won't happen until 2027 at the earliest, Bloomberg added.

According to Bloomberg's sources, Cook is deliberately expanding Ternus' area of responsibility. In addition, Apple is increasingly making Ternus the public face of the company: he presented the iPhone Air, gave a number of key interviews after the releases, in some cases he plays a more prominent role than Cook, the agency claims. Ternus, at 50, is the youngest member of Apple's top management team. He is favored by Cook and his former deputy Williams, and some board members see him as a leader capable of preparing Apple devices for the age of artificial intelligence, the agency writes.

Other internal candidates for Apple's chief executive include Sabih Khan, who replaced Williams as chief operating officer. He is in charge of supply chain and holds the same position as Cook before taking over the company.

Apple shares rose 0.3% to $248.35 in trading on January 22. However, compared to the beginning of 2026, they are in minus by almost 9%.

Analysts look at the company's securities rather positively: a total of 29 out of 50 recommend buying (Buy and Overweight ratings), MarketWatch shows. Another 18 recommend to hold (Hold), three - to sell (Sell and Underweight)

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor