Starting tomorrow, Apple will undergo a leadership reshuffle, with its top priority being AI.

John Ternus officially takes over as CEO of Apple on September 1, becoming the third chief executive to lead the world's most valuable tech company after Steve Jobs and Tim Cook.

According to the latest Bloomberg report and analysis, Ternus faces only one core challenge: how to lead this consumer electronics giant renowned for its hardware to re-establish competitive advantages in the era of artificial intelligence.

Right after taking office, Ternus will face a critical test — the September iPhone launch event, as well as the timeline for Apple's full rollout of the new Siri AI.

This rebuilt voice assistant is positioned as a direct competitor to ChatGPT, and early reviews are fairly positive. However, it remains uncertain whether it can reverse Siri's long-standing market reputation of being "unusable".

Meanwhile, Cook has not truly stepped down. He will stay on as Executive Chairman, continue to lead Apple's relations with the Trump administration and the Chinese government, and provide support whenever Ternus needs it.

This power transition is of far-reaching significance to Apple's shareholders.

The product pipeline led by Ternus covers the first foldable iPhone, AI-enabled smart glasses and home display devices. Whether these products can deliver on their promises will directly determine whether Apple can hold its ground in the AI hardware track.

At the same time, Apple's lag in the AI field, the intensifying brain drain, and the slowing growth of its services business constitute three layers of pressure that the new CEO must address immediately.

Lagging in AI: Apple's Most Urgent Structural Crisis

Apple's layout in the generative AI sector is clearly lagging behind.

After ChatGPT sparked the AI boom at the end of 2022, Apple immediately launched large-scale investments — building its own large language model, recruiting AI talents with high salaries, and scouting acquisition targets — but the first version of the Apple Intelligence software performed poorly, and no major AI acquisitions were closed. Cook later replaced Apple's AI leader and restructured the Siri team.

More emblematically, Apple decided last year to abandon the route of self-developed models, and instead pay to adopt Google's Gemini technology as the underlying foundation of the new version of Siri. This decision triggered strong dissatisfaction within Apple's internal large language model team, and many core members including the team leader left one after another for competitors offering higher compensation.

The new Siri AI will be fully rolled out in September. Apple's long-term commercialization path is to charge users or developers, or realize monetization through integrating third-party applications. The premise for this model to be viable is that Siri must first win the trust of users.

Hardware Offensive: Product Bets in the AI Era

Ternus has worked at Apple for 25 years. Starting as a Mac engineer, he gradually took charge of the iPad, AirPods, iPhone and even the entire hardware engineering system, and is a widely recognized hardware expert within Apple.

The new product pipeline he leads is described as "extremely ambitious": the first foldable iPhone and a smart display device that can identify speakers and push personalized content will be launched this fall; followed by AirPods with built-in cameras, smart glasses, home security systems, home displays equipped with robotic arms, and a wearable camera pendant.

It is worth noting that Ternus has a lukewarm attitude towards the Vision Pro mixed reality headset that Cook strongly promoted. According to people familiar with the matter, he believes the device is too bulky and expensive to become a mainstream product.

Recently, Apple has cut staff from teams related to Vision Pro, covering multiple directions such as device security, audio engineering, Siri integration, testing and operating systems. The smart glasses project with internal code name N50 at Apple has received Ternus's support and is scheduled to be launched next year; but if the head-mounted device category as a whole fails to gain market recognition, he does not rule out scaling back this product line, which may affect the new generation of Vision Pro with code name N224 that will be released as early as the end of 2028.

At the intersection of AI and hardware, Ternus also promoted the integration of AI into Apple's own product R&D process, and launched an AI platform designed to accelerate product development and improve hardware testing efficiency during his tenure as head of hardware.

Brain Drain: Hidden Internal Risks Facing the New CEO

Apple's appeal as a top destination for hardware talents is weakening. Hundreds of former Apple employees are currently working in OpenAI's hardware department, and Apple has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing the company of stealing trade secrets. Ternus himself is one of the decision-makers who approved this lawsuit.

To retain key talents, Ternus has distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional bonuses to multiple members of the iPhone design team, and personally intervened in individual retention efforts — he once instructed Richard Dinh, head of iPhone design, to interview an engineer from Singapore in person, offering promotion and pay rise, but the employee ultimately chose to join OpenAI.

According to people familiar with the matter, about half of Apple's executive team may leave the company in the next few years.

The most critical potential departure is Johny Srouji, Chief Hardware Officer. The 61-year-old executive expressed his intention to leave to Cook last year, and temporarily stayed after receiving requests to expand his responsibilities and assist with the CEO transition, but people familiar with the matter said he may still leave within one or two years.

Heads of the marketing, services and retail departments have all worked at Apple for about 40 years, and may retire one after another in recent years.

Power Transition: Cook's "Incomplete Retirement"

Cook has been at the helm of Apple for 15 years. During his tenure, the company's revenue grew from about 100 billion US dollars to 416 billion US dollars, and its market value increased by about 15 times. On August 23, he attended a farewell dinner held by his colleagues at Apple Park, with OneRepublic performing live for the event. But this farewell is not complete.

Cook clearly informed Ternus that he will continue to handle relations with the Trump administration and the Chinese government, and is willing to take on any other responsibilities that the successor deems necessary.

He told employees that Apple will always be his "first priority" because he "can't imagine any other way".

According to Bloomberg reports, Apple internally compares this partnership to Jeff Bezos and Andy Jassy at Amazon, believing that it is the closest reference model.

But there is also a lesson from Disney — after Bob Iger stayed on as a consultant, he clashed with his successor Bob Chapek, and eventually returned to the position of CEO. How to properly manage this gradual power transition will largely determine whether Ternus can become a successful CEO on a par with Cook.

At present, Ternus has begun to take charge of Apple's communication with Wall Street analysts, and has gradually taken the leading position in the 2027 planning meetings he attended with Cook.

The iPhone launch event on September 9 will be his first public appearance as CEO, while Cook will not appear as the protagonist on this stage for the first time in 15 years.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Wall Street CN", author: Zhao Ying, published with authorization from 36Kr.