United Kingdom, Jan. 23 -- Apple's John Ternus has reportedly expanded his influence inside the company in what is widely being read as the clearest signal yet that he could eventually succeed Tim Cook as CEO.

According to Bloomberg, Cook placed Apple's storied design team under the oversight of Ternus toward the end of 2025, following the retirement of former COO Jeff Williams last November.

While the move has not been formally announced and is not reflected on Apple's public org charts, it could represent a significant consolidation of power.

Ternus is now supposedly the "executive sponsor" for design across both hardware and software, and leads design discussions at the highest level of Apple's executive meetings.

That responsibili...