Opening thoughts: Snap Inc.’s smart glasses are on the horizon – it’s no longer a question of if, but when. CEO Evan Spiegel recently voiced what many have been thinking.
“I think Meta Platforms had to partner with EssilorLuxottica because the Meta brand isn’t something people want close to their face,” Evan Spiegel said during a podcast with David Senra. His remark underscores how Meta’s reputation continues to shape perceptions of its products – including the Ray-Ban Meta AI Glasses. He added that the collaboration could be “more harmful for Luxottica than for Meta.”
A few weeks ago, I had also written about my unease with the idea of living with AI glasses from Meta, noting, “to be fair, no one really knows where this data is otherwise going.” I’ve stuck to that view – I haven’t reviewed the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 glasses, keeping my word (for better or worse, a habit I tend to follow).
This had been in the pipeline, but few expected it to happen so soon.
Tim Cook is stepping down after 14 years as CEO of Apple Inc. – and 28 years with the company overall – a tenure marked by record iPhone sales, over $100 billion in services revenue, and a market valuation surpassing $4 trillion. He passes the baton to John Ternus, senior vice president of hardware engineering and the mind behind some of Apple’s most exciting recent products, including the MacBook Neo and the iPhone Air, both notable in their own right.
Tim Cook leaves Apple Inc. in a strong position for John Ternus – with solid finances, a robust product lineup, and growing momentum in diversification.
John Ternus has a deep appreciation for the effort behind every product – the countless hours spent refining, reworking, and perfecting details in engineering labs to get things just right. Meanwhile, Johny Srouji, who most recently served as senior vice president of hardware technologies, will take on an expanded role, leading both hardware engineering – previously overseen by Ternus – and the broader hardware technologies division.
A graduate in engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, Ternus joined Apple Inc. in 2001. He played a key role in the development of Apple Silicon, overseeing the landmark shift from Intel processors to Apple’s in-house M-series chips across Macs and iPads. He also helped execute Tim Cook’s vision for the AirPods lineup and, even earlier, was instrumental in bringing the original iPad to market. More recently, his influence has shaped products such as the Apple Vision Pro, iPhone Air, and MacBook Neo.
John Ternus understands bold experimentation as well as anyone. At the same time, the hallmark reliability of the Mac, iPad, and iPhone – something consumers deeply value – remains firmly in focus.
In late 2025, he was given oversight of Apple Inc.’s design teams, becoming the first executive since Jony Ive to bring together hardware engineering and product design. It’s fair to expect an intriguing phase ahead for Apple – one defined by continuity where it matters, alongside measured doses of bold innovation.