Apple’s scheduled leadership change in September 2026 marks more than a routine succession. Tim Cook will step down after 15 years, and John Ternus, the company’s senior vice president of hardware engineering since 2021, will take over as chief executive. The immediate effect, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, is a strategic re-centering on product design — an area that critics say atrophied after the departure of legendary designer Jony Ive in 2019. Cook’s tenure quadrupled annual revenue to roughly $400 billion, but the product aesthetic, once a core differentiator, became subdued. Ternus, who joined Apple in 2001 as a product-design engineer, is expected to restore that emphasis, with early signals pointing to a MacBook Neo praised for premium design at a lower price point.

The mechanism behind this shift is visible in the product roadmap assembled from supply-chain and internal sources. Apple is preparing one of its densest launch calendars, with at least 20 new or refreshed devices expected between late 2026 and 2027. The first test arrives this September, when Ternus is likely to preside over the introduction of the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max alongside the company’s first foldable iPhone — a book-style device with a 7.7-inch internal display, reportedly targeting 11 million unit sales in its initial months. The standard iPhone 18 models would follow in early 2027, spreading releases across the year rather than concentrating them in autumn. Also expected in 2026 are updated Macs with M5 and M6 chips, a new entry-level iPad with Apple Intelligence support, and an Apple Watch Series 12.

The 2027 cycle, timed to the iPhone’s 20th anniversary, is framed by analysts in the US and Asia as potentially the company’s most ambitious. It includes a redesigned “iPhone 20” series with a quad-curved, nearly bezel-less display and under-screen Face ID, a second-generation foldable, and the debut of Apple’s smart glasses. Those glasses, now targeted for late 2027 after delays, will lack a display in their first iteration and will compete with Meta’s Ray-Ban eyewear. Apple intends to differentiate on privacy, mirroring its recent AI messaging. Camera-equipped AirPods, a tabletop home hub with a robotic arm, and a new HomePod with a screen are also in development, signalling a push into AI-driven wearables and the connected home.

The next factual milestone is the September 2026 product event, where the design language of the foldable iPhone and the Pro models will offer the first tangible evidence of Ternus’s influence. Beyond that, the 2027 anniversary iPhone and the smart glasses timeline will test whether the company can sustain its financial trajectory while reclaiming the aesthetic identity that once defined it.