Apple CEO John Ternus has reportedly taken a more direct role in overseeing the company’s industrial and human interface design teams. Ternus is allegedly spending significant time with the design studio and is now closely involved in product design decisions. The move comes after several senior designers left Apple for companies including Meta and OpenAI. Despite the changes, the Cupertino-based tech giant reportedly has not started looking for a single design chief to oversee both teams, leaving Ternus as the key decision-maker.
John Ternus Reportedly Oversees Apple’s Design Teams More Closely
According to the latest Power On newsletter by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Ternus visits Apple’s design studio several times a week and can make multiple visits in a single day. His involvement has increased since he became CEO, although he had already worked closely with the design teams during his previous role as head of hardware engineering.
After Jeff Williams left Apple as COO last year, the company said its two design teams would report to Tim Cook. Instead, Ternus, who previously led Apple’s hardware engineering team, took over the industrial design and human interface teams as he prepared to become CEO.
Gurman notes that Ternus is leaving departments like finance and supply chain to other senior executives, giving him more time to focus on engineering, products and design. He now visits Apple’s design studio several times a week, sometimes more than once a day. Former CEO Cook reportedly visited the studio about once a month.
This comes as Apple tries to rebuild its design teams after losing experienced staff. Alan Dye, who previously led human interface design, left for Meta, while OpenAI has hired several former Apple employees. Apple has reportedly responded by promoting junior designers and bringing in talent from outside.
Molly Anderson now leads industrial design and Steve Lemay heads human interface design at Apple, with Ternus overseeing both. Gurman claims that the company is not looking for a new executive to take over the broader design function in the way Jony Ive once did. Apple has not appointed a single executive to oversee both design teams since Ive left in 2019. Ternus now sits above the two design teams despite coming from an engineering rather than traditional design background.
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