Hardware on John Ternus

Apple Vision Pro

Fri, 02 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Apple Vision Pro with charging cable. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

The Apple Vision Pro — announced at WWDC 2023, shipped on February 2, 2024 — is Apple’s first new-category product since Apple Watch (2015), and the first product entirely developed under John Ternus’s sole hardware leadership. Launch price: $3,499. Platform: visionOS (an iOS variant for spatial computing). Position in Apple history: the most ambitious hardware bet since the original iPhone.

M-series (Apple Silicon)

Tue, 10 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Apple M1, first chip in the M-series, announced 2020-11-10. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

On November 10, 2020, Apple shipped the M1 chip — the company’s first desktop-class processor based on ARM architecture, manufactured by TSMC on a 5 nm process. The M1 debuted across three products: MacBook Air, 13" MacBook Pro, and Mac mini. That moment marked the start of Apple’s most consequential platform transition since the PowerPC → Intel migration in 2006.

iPad Pro 2018

Tue, 30 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000

iPad Pro 2018 and regular iPad. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

The October 2018 iPad Pro, announced on October 30, 2018 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, is three things at once: a product, a career moment for John Ternus, and a quiet revolution in Apple’s chip architecture. Most profiles from that era treated only the product. In retrospect, all three matter.

iPhone (the Ternus era)

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

iPhone 15 Pro — first titanium iPhone, first iPhone with USB-C. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

In 2020, Tim Cook handed John Ternus what was perhaps the most delicate hardware seat at the company: the iPhone division. Before that moment, iPhone hardware reported directly to Dan Riccio. Five years later, the iPhone went through its most complete formal reinvention since the iPhone X (2017): USB-C, titanium, Dynamic Island, periscope sensor, and what came to be known as “iPhone Pro mode” — a deliberate feature-set divergence between tiers.

Apple Watch (the Ternus era)

Thu, 01 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Apple Watch Ultra — first Watch variant in titanium, 49mm. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

In December 2022, Apple Watch hardware moved under John Ternus’s reporting line. It was the last piece of the portfolio added to his Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering division — completing the set: iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch, AirPods, and (shortly after) Vision Pro.

Under Ternus, Apple Watch went through its largest portfolio expansion since its 2015 debut. This page catalogs that era.

AirPods

Wed, 07 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Original AirPods. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

The AirPods were announced on September 7, 2016, alongside the iPhone 7. At that moment, John Ternus had been VP of Hardware Engineering for three years under Dan Riccio, and the AirPods division reported to him. AirPods were born inside Ternus’s portfolio.

Ten years later, AirPods alone produces more annual revenue than the entire Roku company — a conservative estimate puts AirPods at $18–22 billion/year, when Roku does about $4 billion. It’s the clearest “new category, well executed” case of Apple’s post-Jobs era, and it’s the product that structurally validates the thesis of a capable hardware division.

Mac Pro 2019

Tue, 10 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Mac Pro 2019 and Pro Display XDR. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

The Mac Pro 2019 — announced at WWDC 2019 and shipped in December 2019 — is the Apple product that carries the most symbolic significance beyond its specifications. It was the redesign that finally made peace with the Mac pro community after the 2013 “trash can” Mac Pro, it was the last Mac Pro with an Intel chip before the Apple Silicon era, and it was one of the products that John Ternus introduced at WWDC while VP of Hardware Engineering.