Apple’s scheduled leadership transition in September, when John Ternus succeeds Tim Cook as chief executive, is accompanied by a strategic reorientation that industry reports from the United States frame as a return to the design-first ethos of the Steve Jobs era. A Bloomberg analysis indicates that Ternus will prioritise product aesthetics, a domain that critics argue was subordinated to supply-chain mastery during Cook’s fifteen-year tenure. The immediate effect is a product roadmap that places visual and tactile appeal at the centre of Apple’s most ambitious launch cycle, beginning with the expected unveiling of the iPhone 18 Pro models and the company’s first foldable handset.

The mechanism behind this shift lies in the restoration of a design culture that weakened after the 2019 departure of Jony Ive, the designer behind the original iPhone, Mac, and iPad. Cook’s decision to replace Ive with the chief operating officer is described in the same report as a structural misstep that diluted the design function. Ternus, by contrast, is expected to empower the design studio and align it with a hardware pipeline that extends to 2028. That pipeline includes a redesigned iPhone 20 series for the smartphone’s twentieth anniversary in 2027, featuring a quad-curved display and ultra-thin bezels, alongside AI-powered wearables such as camera-equipped AirPods and augmented-reality glasses intended to compete with offerings from Meta and Google. A tabletop home hub with a robotic arm is also in development, according to the US reports.

Viewed from Seoul, Samsung is pursuing a different axis of differentiation. South Korean industry sources indicate the company is testing its Privacy Display technology for the Galaxy S27 Pro, a model that would sit below the Ultra tier. The feature, which uses a hardware layer to restrict side-angle visibility of on-screen content, debuted on the Galaxy S26 Ultra earlier this year. Its expansion to a broader model line reflects a calculation that privacy can serve as a competitive lever in crowded public spaces, where users increasingly seek to shield passwords, messages, and financial data from onlookers. The move comes as other manufacturers, including laptop makers, explore similar optical privacy solutions.

The next factual milestone is Apple’s September product event, where Ternus will present the first devices developed under his leadership and the market will gauge the initial reception of the foldable iPhone. For Samsung, confirmation of the Galaxy S27 Pro’s specifications is expected in early 2027, ahead of the Mobile World Congress. Both trajectories will test whether design revival and hardware-based privacy can shift purchasing patterns in a maturing smartphone market.