Apple’s ‘hardware guy’, college swimming champ: 5 interesting facts about John Ternus

However, Ternus seems to have his work cut out for him. Not only will he have to top Cook when it comes to delivering shareholder returns, Ternus is also inheriting a company that remains massively dependent on the iPhone, a product now nearly 20 years old. Having spent most of his life at Apple and describing Cook as a mentor, Ternus is expected to continue on the cautious course his successor pursued, a direction which could worry some shareholders hoping for a more radical shift. But who is John Ternus, exactly? Here are a few interesting facts about him.

He was a swimming champion in college

Ternus graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997 with a bachelor of science in engineering, majoring in mechanical engineering. Besides distinguishing himself academically, Ternus was also a competitive swimmer with an athletic prowess that enabled him to win both the 50-metre freestyle and 200-metre individual medley at a college swimming competition, as per a report by Fortune.

He further represented the varsity swim team a record number of times, and was named as an “all-time letter winner” for the UPenn men’s swimming team.

His start was in virtual reality hardware

After graduating from college, Ternus reportedly worked for four years at a little-known company called Virtual Research Systems that looked to build VR headsets and similar devices for immersive technologies back in the 1980s and 1990s. The experience he gained at the company likely proved invaluable during his later work on products like the Apple Vision Pro.

Ternus was promoted to senior vice president of hardware engineering and became a member of Apple’s executive team in January 2021, after Dan Riccio, who oversaw iPhone hardware engineering, stepped down.

He has been the face of major Apple launches

Apple has been preparing for the transition of power with the company’s public relations teams frequently putting the spotlight on Ternus, according to Bloomberg’s Gurman. He was a regular presenter at Apple’s keynote events, including the unveiling of new iMac, iPad, and Macbook Pro lineups. He was also the one who introduced Apple silicon to the world, as well as the new iPhone Air.

“When Apple began selling the iPhone 17 lineup [in September 2025], it was Ternus who ushered in customers to the company’s Regent Street store in London (a role Cook served at Apple’s Fifth Avenue location),” Gurman previously wrote.

His fingerprints are across Apple’s products

Ternus, a mechanical engineer, joined Apple’s product design team in 2001 which was a pivotal moment in Apple’s history as Steve Jobs had returned to the company, the iMac had revitalized sales, and it was gearing up to launch products that would redefine entire industries.

Initially working on external Mac monitors, Ternus has overseen hardware engineering for virtually every major product in the company’s current product portfolio, including every generation of iPad, the latest iPhone lineup, and AirPods. He also played a key role in the Mac’s transition to Apple silicon as well as newer products such as the iPhone Air, according to a report by Fortune.

His age may have played a key role

He is the same age as Cook when the latter became CEO in 2011, which also positions Ternus for potentially a decade or more of leadership. The longevity factor appeals to Apple’s board of directors as they prefer stability in leadership transitions, according to Gurman.

“Everyone else on the Apple executive team is late 50s through their mid 60s. Turning 66 this year, in the case of Tim Cook. You’re Apple’s board, you like continuity, you like an insider, you like people who know what they’re doing, and who have been there for a while, they know where the bodies are buried,” Gurman had said in an appearance on the TBPN podcast in January this year.

“Apple gets the vast majority of its revenue from hardware. He’s the hardware guy. Have they screwed up any hardware since he’s been in charge? No. He’s a steady hand who knows what he’s doing. He’s really the only choice,” he added.