Apple's new CEO John Ternus will inherit a company struggling to keep pace in artificial intelligence, despite being the world's first trillion-dollar company. The hardware executive, who takes over from Tim Cook on September 1st, was announced without any mention of AI plans, even as the company faces mounting pressure to deliver on years of broken promises about its AI assistant Siri .

Why Is Apple Falling Behind in the AI Race?

Apple has developed a reputation for trailing competitors in AI capabilities. Siri lacks the advanced features available in competing products from Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic, and it relies on other companies for the underlying AI models that power it . While Microsoft and Google have aggressively integrated AI agents into their operating systems, Apple has largely held back, and when it has tried, the results have sometimes drawn criticism.

The company's track record on AI promises has been particularly problematic. At WWDC 2024, Apple executives highlighted personalization features for Siri that were supposed to arrive over the following year. Nearly two years later, those features still haven't shipped. Last June at WWDC 2025, executives again referenced updates to Siri, saying they "needed more time to reach our high quality bar," but no official timeline has been provided for when the new Siri will actually arrive .

Craig Federighi, Apple's Senior Vice President of software engineering, acknowledged the delays but offered no concrete delivery date. Meanwhile, WWDC 2026 is approaching quickly, raising questions about whether the company will finally deliver on its AI commitments .

What Strategy Is Apple Using to Fill the AI Gap?

Rather than building all its AI capabilities in-house, Apple has pursued a partnership strategy. The company integrated OpenAI's ChatGPT into some features and added visual intelligence capabilities. Executives have repeatedly said they hope Apple users will be able to choose from multiple AI models, not just Apple's own .

In January, Apple finally signed a deal with Google to use Gemini, Google's AI model, to power Apple's future foundation models. The agreement could cost Apple approximately $1 billion per year. However, even this partnership came later than expected. During Google's search monopoly trial last April, CEO Sundar Pichai said the agreement with Apple would hopefully be signed within months, with a rollout expected by the end of 2025 .

"Looking forward to Google powering the next generation of Apple foundation models based on Gemini technology," said Sundar Pichai.

Sundar Pichai, CEO at Google

On Alphabet's February earnings call, executives largely avoided detailed discussion of the company's AI partnerships, including with Apple, though Pichai reiterated his enthusiasm for the collaboration .

How Can Ternus Address Apple's AI Challenges?

• Deliver on Siri Upgrades: Ternus must finally ship the Gemini-powered Siri that has been promised for years, potentially by WWDC 2026, to demonstrate Apple can execute on AI commitments.
• Leverage Hardware Expertise: As a 25-year hardware veteran who has led engineering for every iPad model, recent iPhones, and AirPods, Ternus could integrate AI capabilities more seamlessly into Apple's physical products rather than treating AI as a software afterthought.
• Balance Innovation with Apple's Design Philosophy: Unlike Microsoft, which faced user backlash for forcing AI into every corner of Windows 11, Ternus could use his design sensibility to implement AI thoughtfully and sparingly, aligning with Apple's reputation for simplicity.

Ternus is the first Apple CEO in roughly 30 years to come from the hardware sector, and he brings a track record of maintaining and improving existing products rather than launching entirely new categories. His background includes overseeing durability and repairability improvements across Apple's product line . Whether those skills translate to leading the company through a critical AI transition remains an open question.

The challenge ahead is substantial. Other AI labs have spent the past two years dramatically advancing agentic AI systems, which can perform complex, multistep tasks on behalf of users. Apple has a long-standing reputation for arriving late to product categories and then delivering a winning entry, but in AI, the company has made promises and failed to deliver repeatedly . Ternus will need to prove he can break that pattern while simultaneously catching up to competitors already moving at breakneck speed.

The world's first trillion-dollar company now faces a critical test: can a hardware engineer who has spent his career refining existing products lead Apple into its AI era and help the company regain lost ground?