00:00Apple's about to turn 50, and inside Cupertino, the biggest question isn't about the iPhone 18,
00:05it's about who's going to be the next CEO of the iPhone maker.
00:09Tim Cook is 65. At a recent all-hands, when asked about leadership changes,
00:13he joked that some people retire at a certain age, emphasizing the word some.
00:18Behind the laughter, Cook made one thing clear.
00:20He's obsessed with who's in the room 5 years, 10 years, and 15 years from now.
00:24And all signs point to one name, John Ternus.
00:27Ternus is Apple's senior VP of hardware engineering.
00:30He's responsible for the devices that make up 80% of the company's revenue.
00:34He helped bring AirPods to market, he developed the first 5G iPhones,
00:38he pushed for iPadOS, and he's been involved in the major Mac transition to Apple Silicon.
00:43Internally, he's known as an engineer's engineer.
00:46Meticulous, detail-obsessed, design-oriented, and a steady hand who's also collaborative, disciplined,
00:52and focuses on cost-cutting at a Tim Cook-like level.
00:55But there's also some weaknesses.
00:56Critics say he's conservative, not a bold visionary,
00:59and hasn't proven yet that he can develop a new class of products that will take Apple into an entirely
01:04new era.
01:05In a period defined by AI, Apple has struggled to innovate, relying more on outside partners.
01:11If Apple remains a hardware-first company, Ternus makes a lot of sense.
01:15But if the future is AI, software, and services, the case gets slightly murkier.
01:19Because whoever replaces Tim Cook won't just inherit Apple,
01:22they'll inherit the pressure to find the next big mega-hit.
