I've known John Ternus for almost a dozen years, but not this John Ternus, the newly minted Apple CEO and sudden global tech celebrity. So, color me pleased when he and his Global Marketing SVP Greg Joswiak agreed to sit down with Tom's Guide Global Editor-in-Chief Mark Spoonauer and me for a podcast discussion that ranged from bringing Pencil to the iPhone and excitement around the foldable iPhone Duo to what AI means for innovation, and the big moment when Ternus realized he was about to become CEO of arguably one of the biggest and most important tech companies in the world.

It's kind of wild to watch someone who you think of as a brilliant but also normal and approachable guy transform into an industry rockstar almost overnight, and while Ternus, who is a 25-year Apple veteran and came directly from leading Apple's hardware operations, doesn't seem outwardly fazed by the transition, he's also attuned to the moment.

"What an extraordinary privilege, right?" said Ternus with a wide grin. The reality is, I just love this place, right? It's in my blood. ...I love the people I work with. I love to be able to build the products that we all build together. And so, goosebumps...and excitement."

What Ternus didn't say is that he was in any way nervous, worried, or even had any fear about the sheer scope of the role. But then, that shouldn't surprise anyone, certainly not Joswiak, who sat next to Ternus and told me, "John will be too humble to say it. The product quality that we have is really — there's nobody in the industry close to what we have — and this has really accelerated during the time that John has started leading the hardware organization that became such an incredible part of designing for that reliability and as well as testing for it. It's just off the charts."

The AI of it all

Throughout our discussion, Ternus's excitement and commitment to doing things the Apple way is clear. He's clearly so deeply embedded in every aspect of the Apple product pipeline, and when I pressed him on innovation, he made it clear that, obviously, Apple is innovating, but that he also has a point of view and, naturally, it involves AI.

"[This is] the most exciting time in my career to be building product because AI presents all these new opportunities." Ever the big-picture thinker, Ternus quickly added that you can't develop AI without being "really thoughtful about and deliberate about" it.

Still, Apple's next phase of innovation seems inexorably linked to AI. "You can see what we're able to do now in our products that we were never able to do before." Ternus mentioned the new Smart Take feature on the iPhone Duo, which essentially knows when you want to take a photo without you explicitly telling it so.

• Also read: Apple CEO John Ternus on iPhone Duo, fixing foldable screens, and the end of the no-stylus 'rule

"Those are incredibly new, exciting capabilities for the kind of products we've made. But this also opens the door for new kinds of products, and so we're just really excited....I couldn't be more excited about our roadmap and what we have ahead of us, and yeah, it's going to be fun."

Rules? There are no rules

Ternus strikes me as maybe more flexible than Steve Jobs was on certain points. Take, for instance, Apple Pencil support on the iPhone Duo. That is an iPhone with digital stylus support.

In 2008, Steve Jobs famously dismissed stylus support for the iPhone. I think his exact words were, "Yuck."

Ternus, though, told me, " I've never really thought of it as a rule. We started with iPad. There was no Apple Pencil, right? And we proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that a touch interface on an iPad can be an amazingly capable and productive thing. But then there's things you can do with a pencil on that larger screen that are really powerful and capable. And I think we saw that opportunity here."

So no clear answer on innovation, but Ternus is smart about spotting and seizing opportunity.

His approach to whatever comes next is, it seems, rooted in his love of Apple and acting on those opportunities.

"I love making product," said Ternus, who added that he loves "doing it with the people here at Apple." He then pointed with some pride at the iPhone Duo, noting that he's "most excited to build amazing things like that."

iPhone is still the one

For all the changes at Apple, in the industry at large, and even trends around smartphone use, the iPhone remains firmly at the center of Apple's Ring. The introduction of the iPhone Duo, a wholly new form factor and the first two-in-one iPhone, is evidence of that, but so is how Ternus sees screens, in general.

During the keynote, Ternus, who seemed so at home on stage (both live and in the pre-recorded bits), pulled a bit of a head fake, talking about an Intelligent Personal Hub that for a moment sounded like a mythical AI wearable (iGlasses, anyone?). In reality, he was talking about the iPhone.

Ternus told me the company is not changing any strategy on wearables (AI or otherwise). After all, it has the AirPods and the Apple Watch, which are more AI-infused than ever. But he also made it clear that screens will remain an important part of the business, mainly because that's Apple's answer to customer demand.

"People want displays. You want to see information. You know, humans process information way more effectively visually than through audio. And so, having a display is amazing, and it fits in your pocket. And so, we don't see the phone losing significance in any way, shape, or form."

When I asked, though, about the missing iPhone 18 base model, Jozwiak reminded me that the Apple "Surprise and Shine" event was "the day to celebrate these new products."

I guess that's true. The iPhone 18 would've been less exciting and maybe less able to perform some of the feats now possible across Apple's myriad AI-enabled devices, and certainly would pale in comparison to the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo. But this keynote was also, in fact, a sort of elevated event. It wasn't just about the new gear. It was also about the new CEO, and Ternus delivered the exciting goods in the most Apple way.

"I think, you look across our whole portfolio and the beauty of Apple is its hardware, software, services and what I love is when all of these things kind of come together and interact and create an experience that is just bigger than the sum of its parts."

Ternus is now a bigger part of that equation, which could make Apple's next epoch even bigger than the last.

Catch the rest of the John Ternus interview on Tom's Guide

Apple has officially entered the folding phone market with the passport-sized and quite attractive iPhone Duo. I know, we all thought it would be called the Ultra, but perhaps Apple will save that superlative for another day (or product).

In some ways, the iPhone Duo is exactly what we expected. A 5.4-inch external display and a large 7.6-inch internal or main, unfolded one. The size, shape, and specs are somewhat similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8. But there are several exciting differences.

Folded and in my hand, the iPhone Duo feels, quite honestly, nothing like any iPhone that's come before it. Heck, Apple even redesigned iOS to accommodate the unusually shaped displays, putting the dock and other controls on the right side (no word on whether you can move them to the other side). For larger screens, that might make everything more thumb accessible.

The 5.4-inch external display is bright, sharp, and features a Center Stage camera (not in the center of the display, despite the name).

As with the Galaxy Z Fold 8, the shape does take some getting used to, but Apple's decision to use curved chrome edges and curves on the right side (when you open it, you see four rounded corners) serves the device well. It's comfortable to hold.

I wasn't entirely successful at folding and unfolding with one hand, but I did do it easily with two and noted the solid feel of the hinge and that I could open and close it to varying degrees. It's hard to believe that this is also an IP68 (for dust and water resistance) device — but Apple does love its challenges.

The 7.6-inch main display, though, is astonishing. Apple went a little wild on the layering, mixing in numerous sheets of custom polymer, the OLED panel, a couple of glass layers, and a titanium backing (all held together with flexible glue that lets them slide back and forth against each other), but the really exciting part is the topmost layer.

The texture layer

When I talk to folding phone curious consumers, they all ask me the same thing: "Is there a crease?" Look, I explain: these are folding devices, and the engineering has to accommodate the folding without breaking any of the various layers and, yes, the thin glass. There has to be a tiny bit of curvature remaining when you unfold.

Even on the excellent Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, the crease is slightly perceptible in certain lighting.

The crease is gone on the iPhone Duo. I can feel it with my finger, but cannot see it, because Apple decided to put a special nano-texture covering on the main display. This has the effect of dispersing the light, especially around any spots where, normally, the crease might be visible.

This also gives that big screen a matte finish that looks and feels unusual in the smartphone space, is unheard of for a foldable, and is generally lovely. I was seriously impressed.

Let's play

I didn't get a ton of time with this star of the show, but what I saw bodes well for Apple's first folding device.

Apple really thought through, for instance, the handoff from the cover screen to the main display. I tried this with a game and with Netflix, where I'd open the app on the cover screen and then slowly open the iPhone Duo: the handoff from one screen to the other is perfection, a precision of connection that should please users and might excite anyone who ever wondered, "Why buy a folding phone?"

I briefly played a console-level game on it, which showed off the fresh power of the new 2-nanometer A20 Pro chip, and took photos with all the cameras, including the 48MP main and 48MP ultrawide with 2x optical zoom. On the latter, I'm not thrilled that I get just 2x zoom, but at least it's optical. Also, it's pretty clear that this thinner-than-the-iPhone Air (when unfolded) probably can't accommodate a longer telephoto lens.

There are a variety of settings for managing the cover screen and cameras so that, for instance, you can use the former as a viewfinder for the best camera for top-notch selfies.

The main screen also hides a new FaceTime Camera, which I noticed effectively disappeared when you're not using it.

I love that you can set up the iPhone Duo as a desktop clock, though I noticed that it wasn't entirely obvious how you put it in StandBy mode without docking it or putting it to sleep.

The main screen is also big enough for multitasking, and I tried my hand at splitting it between Photos and Messages: you drag an app into a side dock, and then it opens on one side. After I opened Photos and Messages, I dragged and dropped a photo into a message. It was a smooth operation.

The reorganization of the iOS interface might throw some, but it made intuitive sense to me as I was playing with the iPhone Duo. I found, though, that the Control Panel still works the same way as it does on other iPhones.

Oh, the Pencil

Two other things of note. The iPhone Duo will be the first iPhone to work with the USB-C Apple Pencil. That is a huge deal. I've been complaining for a while that the wonderful Galaxy Z Fold line lost that digitizing layer.

I cannot wait to try the Apple Pencil on that big screen (there were no Pencils in the demo space). I bet the nano-coating will even make a difference in how the Pencil feels on the Display. I do not yet know if the iPhone Duo will also accept Apple Pencil Pro input, though I hope it does.

The other thing is that, yes, the iPhone Duo includes MagSafe. There are, by the way, two batteries that are promising "all-day" battery life.

This is also Apple's most expensive iPhone, starting at $1,999 / £1,999 / AU$3,499 for the 256GB model. Naturally, Apple will tell you it'll be far more obtainable with a trade-in and the new leasing option (pay a fixed monthly sum for two years and then return it for a new one),

Overall, this is an exciting start for Apple's first foray into foldables. Sure, it stands on the shoulders of giants, but as is often the case, Apple's done all this in a very Apple-ly way, and in this case, that looks like a very good thing.