Apple elevates John Ternus to lead hardware strategy, signaling shift toward custom chips and devices that can't be replicated by competitors

John Ternus, Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering, is now positioned as the leader of Apple's hardware future. This move reflects Apple's bet that the company's competitive advantage comes from designing its own silicon chips and devices (like the M-series processors in MacBooks and the A-series in iPhones) rather than relying on standard components that rivals can also buy.

When a company controls both hardware design and software, it can optimize them together in ways competitors cannot match—similar to how Tesla designs its own electric-motor controllers rather than using off-the-shelf parts. Apple's custom chips already run 15–25% faster than equivalent Intel or Qualcomm processors for the same power consumption, letting devices stay thinner and run longer on battery.

For you as a user or business buyer: Apple products will likely become harder to replace with cheaper alternatives, because the performance gap will keep widening. For competitors like Dell or HP selling Windows laptops, it means they'll need to find a new way to compete on speed and battery life—not just on price. For investors, this signals Apple is doubling down on moat-building (creating structural advantages that are hard for competitors to copy) rather than incremental improvements.