Apple's New Boss Wants to Launch Gadgets More Often
John Ternus, Apple's new CEO, wants Apple to release new products more often than just in the spring and fall, according to Bloomberg reporting cited by The Verge on Sept. 29, 2026.
Ternus said Apple needs to move faster and try more new ideas to keep up in artificial intelligence, the technology behind smart assistants and chatbots. This is a plan he has talked about, not a change that has already happened.
He is also thinking about having fewer managers between engineers and top leaders. That would let the people who build the products speak more directly to the people who decide what to make.
Some job changes have already happened. According to the same Bloomberg reporting, Apple's hardware team let go of a number of project coordinators in the past two weeks. The company also thought about laying off 5,000 AppleCare support workers, the people who help customers by phone and chat, but it paused that idea. Those layoffs did not happen.
Ternus knows hardware well. He worked on computer screens early at Apple, helped design the first iPad, and later led work on the Mac, according to Bloomberg. He was Apple's head of hardware engineering before becoming CEO. Tim Cook passed the top job to Ternus, Reuters reported on Sept. 1. As new CEO, Ternus faced the challenge of keeping talented staff from leaving.
The changeover included three launches. Apple released faster Mac mini and Mac Studio computers for AI work on Aug. 25, likely the last big launch under Cook. In early September, Ternus wrote in a memo about a strong lineup of future products and promised a "phenomenal" iPhone launch on Sept. 9. That event, led by Ternus, focused on an expected folding iPhone. It was his first big public appearance as CEO and Apple's first launch under his leadership. Apple shares fell 0.3% after the event.
Looking at what this means in practice, announcing faster releases is easy. Doing it is hard. Each product needs its chips tested, heat and physical design checked, wireless rules passed, and software ready at the same time. The coordinators who were let go usually kept all that on track. Without them, decisions can happen faster. But the extra organizing work can fall on designers and software builders.
The broader context here is a change in how tech improves. It used to be like printing two big textbooks a year. AI improves more like updating apps, in small steps based on quick feedback. The hardware needs to allow for those later software improvements. In my view, that is the change Ternus is talking about, not just holding more events.
Worth weighing carefully is the downside. More different products mean more models to build, more versions to test, and more questions for support. That work would fall on the same AppleCare team that almost faced cuts. Keeping that team in place helps customers while Apple tries more products. Over time, that supports users, because good help decides whether faster releases feel helpful or confusing.
