Ternus Takes Charge as Apple Prepares Its First Foldable iPhone

Mark Gurman frames John Ternus’s first day as Apple CEO as an unusual internal succession: the longtime hardware chief has gone from being a peer of Apple’s senior executive team to being its boss. As Gurman puts it, “someone who was a peer of the rest of the staff on Apple’s executive team has now risen up to be their boss.”

That differs from the position Tim Cook inherited, Gurman says. Cook had already served as chief operating officer and as interim CEO two or three times, placing him “in a different stratosphere” from other executives and making him the clear successor. Ternus’s candidacy was less settled. Gurman says that until his reporting roughly two and a half years ago, Ternus appeared to be a dark-horse possibility.

The case for Ternus rests on product expertise. Gurman describes him as a leader with the product and hardware credentials to guide Apple toward new products, an expectation shared, in his telling, by the board, Ternus, employees, and customers. But as Ed Ludlow noted, Ternus is identified with hardware and product rather than finance, sales, or legal. Gurman’s peer-to-chief framing makes the management challenge clear: Ternus is taking responsibility for a veteran group whose members previously stood alongside him.

The transition is already accompanied by another senior change. Phil Schiller, Apple’s longtime marketing head, is stepping back toward retirement, Gurman says. After leaving the marketing role in 2020, Schiller became an Apple Fellow responsible for the App Store and Apple Events—covering the company’s product storefronts and launch events. He will remain at Apple for unspecified projects for now, Gurman says, but is “en route to retirement.”

Apple’s September 9 event is expected to place its first foldable iPhone at the center of the company’s next product cycle. Gurman calls it the main event of the showcase and says he continues to hear that the device will cost more than $2,000 in the United States.

Gurman attributes that price to the hardware: an expansive display, a folding mechanism, and two separate screens—one inside and one outside. The device is expected to be Apple’s most prominent new product at an event that follows immediately after Ternus assumes the CEO role.

The IDC forecast displayed during Gurman’s remarks projects iOS gaining a substantial share of the foldable-phone market by 2027, while Android’s projected share declines from its 2025 level. It is a forecast of operating-system share in foldables, rather than an estimate of demand for Apple’s device.

Gurman expects the foldable to arrive alongside iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max models. The Pro phones are expected to gain new colors, including sky blue and a wine- or burgundy-red finish. He also says the Pro Max will get a mechanical aperture, allowing users to manually set how much light enters the camera for darker and nighttime photography.

The broader lineup is expected to include new Apple Watches and AirPods 5. Gurman does not expect major Apple Watch changes, but says health tracking will be expanded through continuous heart-rate monitoring. Current readings come at intervals and during workouts, he says; the new approach would provide data throughout the day.

Ternus is expected to make a brief onstage appearance at Cupertino’s Steve Jobs Theater to introduce himself as CEO before Apple plays its prerecorded launch video, Gurman says. Attendees will see the video in the theater; the same presentation will be available live online through Apple TV, Apple’s website, YouTube, and other social platforms.