Apple CEO John Ternus is on the cover of TIME's "Best Inventions of 2026" issue, which hits stands October 26, MacRumors reports.
Ternus joined Apple in 2001 and ran hardware engineering before taking over from Tim Cook on September 1. Eight days later he was on stage unveiling the iPhone Duo, Apple's first foldable, and he isn't shy about how he sees the competition. "The other examples in the world felt kind of cheap and crappy," he told TIME's Andrew R. Chow.
The interview also touches on how the handoff is working. Cook stays on as executive chairman, focused mostly on dealing with policymakers around the world. "He has great relationships and loves Apple," Ternus said. "So wherever he can help, he is happy to help." Cook, in a separate interview, said he is "not meddling."
Asked about Siri AI running on models based on Google's Gemini, Ternus said Apple doesn't need to build every piece itself. "There's not really a goal that we have to make every single thing in a product," he said. "We make the things where we can really bring differentiation."
There's a personal note too: Ternus was eight when his father bought an Apple II. "I started playing games on it and fell in love with Apple," he said.
The timing works out for Apple. iPhone Duo preorders open tomorrow, and the company's October 28 launch for new MacBook Pros is less than two weeks away.
— via MacRumors