LONDON (AP) \u2014 Apple\u2019s next CEO John Ternus is a company veteran who rose through the iPhone maker\u2019s hardware engineering ranks but until now has maintained a low profile. <\/p>\n
Ternus will take over as chief executive<\/a> in September for Tim Cook, who turned Apple into a $4 trillion tech colossus during his 15-year run after the death of co-founder Steve Jobs. <\/p>\n Ternus faces challenges that will force him to step out of his comfort zone in hardware engineering. Beyond finding ways to keep Apple competitive in the artificial intelligence<\/a> race, he will need to navigate supply chain questions and relationships with figures like President Donald Trump, who offered public praise for his predecessor on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Although Cook is handing over the CEO reins at Apple, he is widely expected to help the Cupertino, California, company maintain a good relationship with Trump after he shifts over to his new role as executive chairman.<\/p>\n Ternus, 50, has spent almost his entire career with Apple. He joined the company 25 years ago and has spent the past five years overseeing the engineering that underlies the iPhone, iPad and Mac<\/a>. <\/p>\n It made him the prime contender to succeed Cook who on Monday, when Apple announced the change in leadership, hailed Ternus as \u201cwithout question the right person to lead Apple into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n Ternus worked on some of Apple\u2019s signature products under Cook, including the Apple Watch, AirPods and Apple Vision Pro. He was also involved in the MacBook Neo, \u201carguably one of the most disruptive products\u201d that Apple has released in a while, said Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight. <\/p>\n \u201cThis mentorship will undoubtedly ensure a smooth transition, and initially, I expect very few changes to the company\u2019s strategy,\u201d Wood said. <\/p>\n The appointment appeared to be carefully timed, following Apple\u2019s 50th anniversary<\/a> celebrations and ahead of its annual WWDC developers conference<\/a> in June. <\/p>\n The change also arrives at a pivotal time for the company. While Cook led Apple through an iPhone-fueled era of prosperity<\/a>, Apple has fallen behind in the AI race. Apple has stumbled in its efforts<\/a> to deliver new features built on AI, as was promised nearly two years ago. <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe challenge for the new CEO is really to make sure Apple is able to crack AI as the new user interface and reinvent human machine interaction,\u201d Forrester Research analyst Thomas Husson said. <\/p>\n Wood says attention at WWDC will be on the new CEO\u2019s AI strategy, and what the company will do next after turning earlier this year to Google<\/a> \u2014 an early leader in the AI race \u2014 to help make the iPhone\u2019s virtual assistant Siri more conversational and versatile. <\/p>\n \u201cA big strategic question is how far Apple will invest in building its own AI platform versus relying on other companies\u2019 models and platforms,\u201d Wood said. <\/p>\n Apples shares fell more than 2% during Tuesday\u2019s trading, signaling some investors may have doubts about whether Ternus\u2019s focus on hardware products has prepared him for the AI challenges he will confront as the company\u2019s next CEO.<\/p>\n But building a device well-suited for the AI age is among the most critical missions as technology makes its most significant pivot since Jobs unveiled the first iPhone in 2007. That\u2019s why some analysts believe Apple\u2019s board saw Ternus\u2019 hardware background as a key advantage as it tries to develop an AI-powered device that could eventually supplant the iPhone as its top-selling product.<\/p>\n That is something that Jony Ive, the former Apple design guru, who shaped the look of the iPhone, is trying to do after his startup, io Products , was acquired last year for $6.5 billion<\/a> by ChatGPT maker OpenAI. <\/p>\n Apple also faces a turbulent market amid geopolitical uncertainty, Wood said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe consumer electronics industry faces a perfect storm, with memory chip shortages and the war in the Middle East having widespread implications for consumer confidence. Apple will also need to decide how much it wants to continue its deep reliance on China for manufacturing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n