Apple CEO John Ternus Rejects AI Wearables Replacing iPhone, Unveils Foldable iPhone Duo

On September 11, 2026, one week after taking office, Apple's new CEO John Ternus gave an interview at Apple Park following the company's annual iPhone launch event, setting out his product philosophy publicly for the first time. Ternus has worked at Apple for 25 years and is the first top leader in the company's history to come from an engineering background. At the event, Apple also introduced its first foldable device, the iPhone Duo, and added a Smart Take automatic capture feature to the iPhone.

Ternus said AI has opened the door to new product categories and that Apple is excited about its roadmap. He attributed Apple's strengths to the integration of hardware, software and services. On AI wearables, Ternus said the Apple Watch and AirPods are AI devices positioned as an accessory ecosystem built around the iPhone, not as replacements for it. He said the iPhone offers strong computing power, battery life and a display, and still fits in a pocket, and that humans process visual information far more efficiently than audio. As AI capabilities grow, he said, users' control over their personal data will become more critical.

On privacy design, Apple said the new Apple Watch's audio intelligence feature does not create any recordings or retain transcripts, and that users themselves cannot retrieve them. Apple designed a new chip for the feature with a built-in, independent secure enclave, so audio data exists only at the moment of processing and is then destroyed. Jazz, Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering, said that if there is no recording, no one can have a recording, and that the data cannot be hacked or compelled. Ternus said that whenever Apple enters a new market, privacy and security are always the first consideration in design.