Ternus began working at Apple in 2001 as part of the product design team. He became vice president of hardware engineering in 2013 and was bumped up to senior vice president in 2021. Unlike Cook, whose strengths before becoming CEO were in logistics and supply chain management, Ternus has been a down-to-the-screws product guy during his 25 years at Apple. He's worked on products including the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods and the MacBook Neo. Before his tenure at Apple, he was a mechanical engineer at Virtual Research Systems. He has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the