Stop with the tech celebrity worship

The number one thing in common with all famous people is that they will all eventually die. Pretending that an individual is purely responsible for everything that is good and nothing can ever be good again without them is a mistake.

Look, I get it. I too have been excited by the romanticized stories of the trials and tribulations of tech founders and other leaders in the space. There are volumes written about how the world as we know it today wouldn't exist without one person's idea.

There is some truth to that, in a way, but there's also an inevitability at play here too. It isn't as if modern smartphones wouldn't exist without the iPhone or the personal computer without the Mac. They were products that pioneered an entire category and revolutionized how we interact with the world and information.

Steve Jobs was a fundamental figure in many of the technological decisions and advancements we're living with today. But it isn't as if we'd be out here banging rocks together for fun if it weren't for Steve Jobs.

The rise of Apple Silicon from iPhones to Macs was an amazing accomplishment for Apple. Johny Srouji was at the center of that revolution along with the team from PA Semi. Intel didn't want to build chips for iPhone, so Apple was forced to make a call, and it was a historic one.

Apple existed before Johny Srouji and it will exist after him. If it wasn't him, it would have been someone else, and sure, things could have turned out differently. Perhaps Apple would be using a Snapdragon processor instead, but that seems unlikely.

Not to downplay Srouji's involvement here, but a lot of invention occurs because of the necessity of the time and place. Apple needed chips, and it was increasingly making its own components, so the next logical step was making its own chips. Getting them to the Mac was another inevitability.

Tim Cook played a major role in getting the Chinese supply chain up to speed. Though, while Cook saw its potential, so did many others. I recommend the Apple in China book, which describes the numerous people involved in getting Apple's supply chain to where it is today. Without Cook, there would still be China.

I could go on and on, but my point is, I'm tired of every headline proclaiming the death of Apple because some nerd can't envision the company without their favorite tech executive. There are thousands of employees that are responsible for the tech we use every day.

Jony Ive left a decade ago, and Apple's design is the best it has ever been. Jeff Williams is gone, yet the company seems to still be operating just fine.

Yes, Eddy Cue, Craig Federighi, Greg Jozwiak, and Phil Schiller will eventually, finally, depart. We'll miss them because of their public-facing presence and Apple's antics during keynotes.

I have no doubt that whoever is next will be just fine.

I suppose my question is, should we know any of these people's names? Outside of investors and historians, should the Apple fan base really be invested in the Apple leadership page?

Do you know the current CEO of Sony? Lay's potato chips? Are we hanging on their every word and concerned that some new hire might forget how to make a potato chip?

Apple created this cult of personality on purpose. The keynotes held in the Steve Jobs era bred the modern public-facing silliness we see today. A line can be traced from Steve Jobs pulling the MacBook Air out of an envelope to the CEO of McDonald's embarrassing himself taking the world's smallest bite out of a sandwich.

I suppose this is all odd coming from someone that writes Apple news for a living. I think it is interesting, and these executive changes and hiring decisions should be reported upon. But I do believe the desire to capture eyeballs with controversy has created a kind of breathless hot take engine over news that almost no one really needs to be concerned with.

John Ternus will be Apple's CEO on September 1, 2026. One day, I'll be back at the keys to write about how Apple will be just fine without him.