Apple is reportedly plotting one of the most ambitious hardware expansions in its history, with incoming CEO John Ternus said to be eyeing as many as 10 entirely new Apple product categories - a number that makes Tim Cook's already impressive legacy look almost modest by comparison.
For the enterprise technology world, this isn't just a consumer story. If even half of these categories land in the workplace, the device landscape as we know it is about to get a serious redesign.
Why Now, and Why Ternus?
To understand why this matters, you need to understand the moment Apple finds itself in. Tim Cook has been one of the most successful CEOs in corporate history - he didn't just keep Steve Jobs' flame burning, he turned it into a bonfire worth over $3 trillion. Under Cook, Apple expanded into roughly three major new hardware categories: Apple Watch, AirPods, and Apple Vision Pro. Three categories, one titan of industry. Not bad.
But the market has changed. AI is rewriting the rules of personal and enterprise computing at a pace that makes Moore's Law look like it's running on dial-up. Competitors from Google, Microsoft, Meta, and a wave of Chinese hardware manufacturers are all staking claims in smart glasses, AI-powered wearables, home automation, and ambient computing. Apple, famously deliberate and notoriously tight-lipped, has been watching - and apparently, planning.
Enter John Ternus. Apple's current SVP of Hardware Engineering, Ternus has been the quiet architect behind some of Apple's most significant hardware leaps - including the M-series Apple Silicon transition that left Intel looking rather sheepish. He is, by most accounts, the person best positioned to understand not just what Apple can build, but what it should build next.
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The Announcement: 10 New Categories on the Horizon
Reports from ChannelNews Australia and Storyboard18 cite sources suggesting Ternus has identified up to 10 new product categories Apple could pursue in the coming years - a figure that surpasses anything mapped out under Cook's tenure.
While specific categories haven't been fully confirmed, Apple's known development pipeline includes smart home displays and hubs, AI-powered smart glasses (a space Meta's Ray-Bans already occupy rather smugly), health monitoring devices, domestic robotics, and potentially entirely new form factors in spatial and ambient computing. Apple Vision Pro already gave us a glimpse of what "new category" ambition looks like at Apple. Now imagine that ambition - multiplied by ten.
What This Means for Enterprise Buyers and Workplace Tech
Here's where it gets interesting for the enterprise. Apple has spent years quietly deepening its grip on the corporate device market - iPhones are staples, MacBooks dominate creative and knowledge worker desks, and iPads have found their way into everything from retail floors to hospital wards.
