John Ternus is set to become Apple CEO as the company leans on AI and a looming new product cycle

Apple is preparing for a leadership handoff that puts one of its most senior hardware and software product executives at the top, with John Ternus scheduled to succeed Tim Cook as chief executive on Sept. 1.

The transition comes as Apple looks to address two closely watched challenges: reinvigorating its artificial intelligence offering and sustaining momentum in its next wave of device upgrades. In a recent report, Ternus was described as stepping into the role with AI as the first major hurdle.

AI, for Apple, is likely to be felt through its assistant and user experience rather than through a single standalone chatbot. The same report said Apple is working on a “rebuilt Siri,” and that the effort would involve Google’s Gemini technology, a widely used large language model that can understand and generate text as well as help power other AI features.

A rebuilt Siri matters because Apple’s assistant is one of the company’s most visible interfaces to its ecosystem. Siri is designed to work across iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and it is tightly tied to on-device capabilities, privacy expectations, and everyday tasks. Any upgrade to Siri’s underlying intelligence is therefore not just a product update, it is also a test of Apple’s ability to deliver more useful AI without changing the overall experience people expect from Apple devices.

Device innovation is the other major front. The report said Apple is preparing a foldable iPhone launch, positioning that next form factor as a new product cycle that could help broaden demand or re-energize upgrades. Foldable designs typically require shifts across engineering, display components, and software adaptation, making them a complex undertaking even for companies with deep hardware experience.

In Ternus, Apple would be putting a leader with an engineering and product development background into the CEO seat at a time when both hardware execution and AI platform decisions are likely to come under scrutiny. That combination also means the company’s near-term strategy may be judged less by long-term vision and more by delivery timelines, product quality, and how quickly new AI features show up in customers’ hands.

For now, key details remain unclear. The report did not outline whether Apple’s Gemini-based Siri will be exclusive to certain regions or devices, how broadly it will roll out, or how Apple will balance cloud-based AI with on-device processing and privacy controls. It also did not specify what the foldable iPhone schedule looks like beyond the statement that Apple is preparing for a launch.

What to watch next is whether Apple offers concrete milestones around Siri’s rebuilt capabilities, including demonstrations of specific tasks Siri can perform and how users access them. On the product side, the market will look for indicates that Apple’s foldable iPhone path is moving from preparation to measurable release planning, such as invitations, launch timelines, or early availability information tied to carrier and retail channels.