Apple CEO John Ternus calls the memory chip shortage a crisis, TIME reports

Apple chief executive John Ternus told TIME that “all options should be on the table” on memory chips, after reports that Apple tested Chinese-made memory. Ternus took over as CEO on 1 September. He is on the cover of TIME’s 2026 Best Inventions issue, which features the iPhone Duo.

“The constraints in memory are absolutely a crisis.” John Ternus, Apple CEO, to TIME

In July, the Financial Times reported that Apple had begun testing memory chips from a Chinese company, TIME wrote. A bipartisan group of senators then wrote to Apple, arguing that this would imperil national security. The US government has also warned Apple off Chinese memory chips.

The foldable

Ternus and five other engineers filed a patent application for foldable devices in 2011, according to TIME. He said the first foldables from other companies “felt kind of cheap and crappy”.

The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999. Its hinge has more than 100 tiny precision parts, under a surface made from a custom polymer, TIME reported. Deliveries have already slipped into 2027.

AI and the ‘lunatic fringe’

Apple’s new Siri, launched in the US in September, uses an Apple model that draws on Google’s Gemini technology. Ternus rejected the idea that relying on a rival is a retreat from Apple making the whole product.

“There’s not really a goal that we have to make every single thing in a product.” John Ternus, to TIME

Apple makes the parts where it can stand out, he said.

He also said he does not see a scenario in which devices disappear, because “people want physical things”. Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, said Apple builds AI for everyday people. It is not aimed at Silicon Valley’s “lunatic fringe”, he said. On OpenAI’s hardware plans, Joswiak said: “We don’t feel threatened.”

Washington and Tim Cook

Ternus said he has met members of the Trump administration to make sure they are “working through things together”. Tim Cook, now Apple’s executive chairman, is still representing Apple abroad, TIME reported.