Can John Ternus Restore Apple’s Design Culture?

Anybody who follows my work is aware of I’ve by no means been a giant fan of Apple. I typically favor open ecosystems, modularity, and uncooked efficiency over Apple’s closed strategy.

As an everyday builder of high-performance desktop computer systems — sometimes finishing two intensive builds per quarter — I strongly favor the AMD Threadripper and Ryzen AI processor strains. For cell productiveness, I want 16-inch laptop computer type elements that provide skilled utility, and I actively champion modular PC designs just like the Framework Laptop computer 16.

Apple’s walled-garden strategy, characterised by glued-together, non-upgradable elements and premium pricing for locked-down {hardware}, runs basically opposite to how I want to work together with know-how.

Nonetheless, credit score have to be given the place it’s due. Whereas I may not have adopted its ecosystem, I deeply admired Apple throughout these golden years when it persistently launched progressive, distinctive designs that brought on real disruption and surprise out there. Again then, Apple didn’t simply launch merchandise; it launched cultural occasions.

The unique iMac G3, the tactile click-wheel iPod, and the primary iPhone weren’t merely practical devices — they have been visceral, virtually emotional experiences. As current commentary from Gizmodo aptly summarized, digital units was once like collectible toys for adults, objects we fetishized for his or her visible and tactile aesthetics. They commanded consideration and compelled each different firm within the business to scramble again to the drafting board.

As we glance towards September 2026, when John Ternus is ready to step into the position of Apple’s CEO, the drumbeat of change is echoing by way of Cupertino. Apple’s determination to nominate John Ternus as its subsequent CEO might sign a serious shake-up and a renewed concentrate on the daring product design that after outlined the corporate. This marks a pivotal juncture for the corporate, and truthfully, an essential one.

The Erosion of Apple’s Design Pedigree After Steve Jobs

The sluggish decline of Apple’s design dominance didn’t occur in a single day; it was a gradual bleeding of expertise and affect that began shortly after Steve Jobs handed away. Jobs and Jony Ive operated in a symbiotic relationship, with design because the undisputed king of the boardroom. Engineering and operations had to determine how one can make Ive’s visions a actuality, not the opposite means round.

When Ive departed Apple in 2019 to type his unbiased agency, LoveFrom, it left a vacuum. However the larger downside was how Apple managed that transition.

The corporate successfully changed one of the influential industrial designers in historical past with its prime provide chain government, Jeff Williams. The studio that birthed the iPhone misplaced its seat on the government desk, finally devolving right into a service bureau the place different groups put in requests for coloration palettes and minor tweaks.

Evans Hankey, who briefly led the group post-Ive, additionally left in 2022, triggering an exodus of veteran designers who had outlined the Ive period.

I’ve seen this company lifecycle play out firsthand. Having began my profession as a monetary analyst, audit supervisor, and undertaking supervisor at Rolm Techniques and IBM, I witnessed what occurs when a big entity shifts from being product-led to operations-led.

Throughout my time intently observing IBM earlier than and through the Lou Gerstner period, it turned clear that in an operations-centric tradition, the spreadsheets dictate the product. Tim Prepare dinner is a logistics genius, and he masterfully turned Apple right into a supply-chain juggernaut that printed cash. However operations executives prioritize effectivity, yield, and threat mitigation. They don’t prioritize taking large, costly leaps of religion on unproven aesthetics.

The end result has been a decade of iteration. Immediately’s iPhones and MacBooks are undeniably competent, however they’re additionally, in my opinion, profoundly boring. They now not spark that visceral surprise. They’re secure and plain, relying extra on client inertia and ecosystem lock-in than on uncooked, eye-popping design attraction.

Why a Giant, Sluggish-Shifting Firm Should Set the Tempo

One would possibly ask why an organization producing billions in revenue wants to fret about being cool once more. The reply lies in Apple’s basic enterprise mannequin. Apple is a big however comparatively slow-moving firm that releases flagship merchandise on a inflexible annual cadence. It’s not a “quick follower.”

A quick follower — consider abroad conglomerates that pump out dozens of handset fashions a 12 months — can afford to attend and see what the market likes, then shortly iterate and launch a less expensive model. Apple can’t try this.

Apple instructions a premium for its merchandise, the notorious “Apple Tax.” You can’t cost a premium value for a commodity expertise. To justify the fee, Apple should supply one thing that feels distinctly superior, and traditionally, that superiority was communicated initially by way of design.

I see a direct parallel with the automotive business. As somebody who intently follows the transition to electrical autos, I see lots of the identical forces at work there.

The EV market is at the moment wrestling with how one can stand out. After I take a look at a basic Jaguar E-Sort — a automotive I’ve a deep curiosity in changing to an electrical powertrain (mine at the moment has a 569 HP LS3) — it evokes pure, visceral emotion. Its design is timeless and daring. In distinction, many fashionable EVs appear to be aerodynamic jellybeans designed by a wind tunnel. They’re environment friendly, however they lack soul. Apple’s current merchandise have grow to be the jellybeans of the tech world.

When a slow-moving big fails to innovate, it turns into susceptible to agile opponents keen to take dangers. If Apple’s {hardware} stays stagnant, opponents who leverage daring new type elements will finally erode Apple’s market share. To take care of its apex predator standing, Apple have to be the one setting the tempo. It must create the tendencies that others scramble to repeat, relatively than sprucing the identical aluminum chassis for a decade.

Forecasting the Subsequent Decade Below John Ternus

This brings us to John Ternus and what seems to be his mandate to raise the economic design group again to its former glory.

Ternus is an attention-grabbing alternative to guide this cost. His background is deeply rooted in {hardware} engineering relatively than pure industrial design, having overseen the transition to Apple Silicon and the event of the iPad Professional. Nonetheless, this engineering pedigree is perhaps precisely what the design group must bridge the hole between radical aesthetics and practical actuality.

Over the following decade, underneath Ternus’s management, I count on a big pivot in Apple’s {hardware} technique. The period of plain competence will possible give method to bolder experiments. We’re already listening to rumors of a jammed 2027 roadmap, that includes a foldable iPhone, a dramatically redesigned MacBook Neo, and camera-equipped AirPods. These are type elements that require a masterclass in design to execute correctly with out compromising sturdiness or person expertise.

I additionally preserve a powerful skilled concentrate on the event of agentic synthetic intelligence and the ethics of digital twins. As agentic AI begins to permeate our units — transferring past easy digital assistants to programs that proactively handle duties — the {hardware} itself might want to evolve.

Future units might function the bodily anchors for our digital proxies. I count on Ternus to push Apple towards units which are extra contextually conscious, maybe integrating private security know-how and satellite-connected {hardware} seamlessly into the design.

We’d see a return to extra natural, “huggable” supplies that soften the interface between human and machine, transferring away from chilly metallic slabs. Apple’s future designs will possible concentrate on the seamless bodily integration of those AI capabilities, requiring {hardware} that appears much less like a utilitarian instrument and extra like an intuitive, extremely personalised companion.

Ternus has the sources to recruit the very best design expertise globally. The actual check will probably be whether or not he has the company braveness to let that expertise take dangers which may sometimes fail, since you can’t obtain daring innovation with out a tolerance for disruption.

Wrapping Up: Can Apple Be Daring Once more?

It’s simple for a brand new CEO to say they are going to revitalize an organization’s design tradition; executing on that promise is completely one other matter. John Ternus is inheriting an organization that has optimized itself for provide chain effectivity on the expense of its artistic soul. Shifting that company momentum will probably be akin to turning a supertanker.

Nonetheless, recognizing the issue is the obligatory first step. By acknowledging that Apple’s design has stagnated and transferring to revive the design group’s authority, Ternus is exhibiting a stage of product-centric management that has been largely absent because the Jobs period.

Whereas I stay a die-hard PC builder who prefers the open ecosystem of my customized AMD rigs, I’m genuinely rooting for Apple to succeed right here. The know-how business thrives on competitors, and when Apple takes daring, disruptive swings, it forces everybody else to raise their sport. Allow us to hope Ternus can deliver the surprise again to Cupertino.

Nothing Cellphone (3)

If my argument that Apple must revive its design language struck a chord, this week’s product presents a compelling different. Whereas Tim Prepare dinner’s provide chain churns out one other iteration of the secure, predictable iPhone, Carl Pei’s firm Nothing has been busy constructing the precise reverse. The Nothing Phone (3) is the antithesis of recent smartphone stagnation and is well one of the polarizing, unapologetically daring units available on the market.

The Nothing Cellphone (3) options the corporate’s signature clear rear design and customizable Glyph Matrix interface.

What instantly units the Nothing Cellphone (3) aside is its refusal to mix in. The commercial design continues Nothing’s signature clear aesthetic, exposing the meticulously organized inside structure beneath Gorilla Glass Victus. Nonetheless, the true showstopper is the newly developed Glyph Matrix on the rear. Shifting past the easy gentle strips of the Nothing Cellphone (2), this new dot-matrix LED array gives dynamic, deeply customizable visible notifications.

In a world the place each different handset is a featureless slab of frosted glass, the Nothing Cellphone (3) seems to be like a bit of high-end, retro-futuristic sci-fi {hardware}. Taking it out for pictures checks instantly drew questions from onlookers — a response an iPhone has not elicited in a decade.

Past Daring Design

Past aesthetics, the gadget leans closely into the period of agentic AI with its new Important House software program and devoted {hardware} button. I already depend on specialised digital productiveness instruments just like the Plaud NotePin for assembly transcription and automatic notetaking, so seeing a smartphone efficiently combine a devoted, hardware-level AI seize key appears like a vital evolution.

Urgent the Important key immediately logs voice reminders or screenshots into an remoted on-device AI bucket that contextualizes the info and prompts actionable calendar occasions. It makes use of localized processing to handle these duties, retaining the workflow clear and speedy.

Efficiency Matches Design

Below the hood, Nothing made the pragmatic option to make the most of the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chipset. Whereas benchmark purists would possibly lament the dearth of absolutely the highest-tier Qualcomm variant, the silicon is completely paired with the hyper-minimalist, black-and-white Nothing OS 4. The UI flies, utterly freed from the bloated skins you discover on competing Android units.

Nothing clearly outpaces Apple in battery capability and charging efficiency. The 5,150 mAh silicon-carbon battery simply powers by way of a full day of heavy use, and the 65W wired charging capabilities make sure that once you do want a top-up, you aren’t tethered to a wall for hours.

This smartphone is just not flawless — the AI Tremendous Zoom on the brand new 50MP periscope lens falls aside quickly previous its native optical limits, and the chassis is undeniably chunky. However perfection is commonly the enemy of innovation. Nothing is taking large, disruptive swings at a stagnant market, delivering a tool that really makes utilizing a smartphone enjoyable once more.

The Nothing Cellphone (3) is a reminder that client know-how ought to nonetheless encourage a way of surprise, making it my Product of the Week.