Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that Apple CEO John Ternus is taking a hands-on approach to product design, reminiscent of Steve Jobs. According to AppleInsider and 9to5Mac, Ternus works in Apple’s design studio several times a week, sometimes multiple times a day. That’s a stark contrast to Tim Cook, who visited the studio roughly once a month during his tenure.
Apple’s industrial design and human interface teams now report directly to Ternus, and the company has no plans to hire an external chief design officer. The current design leads are Molly Anderson, VP of Industrial Design, and Steve Lemay, who leads human interface. The shift follows the retirement of former COO Jeff Williams in 2025, who oversaw design despite lacking a design background himself.
Ternus is reportedly able to focus on design because CFO Kevan Parekh handles financial strategy and COO Sabih Khan handles the supply chain. Meanwhile, Apple has lost several design veterans to rivals: former software design chief Alan Dye joined Meta, while former industrial design chief Evans Hankey is now at OpenAI through Jony Ive’s io.