May 2026

Apple leadership

Significant news announced: Tim Cook to become Apple Executive Chairman, John Ternus to become Apple CEO. ` Apple announced that Tim Cook will become executive chairman of Apple’s board of directors and John Ternus, senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, will become Apple’s next chief executive officer effective on September 1, 2026. The transition, which was approved unanimously by the Board of Directors, follows a thoughtful, long-term succession planning process.'

Tim Cook tweeted:

Here is the Community Letter from Tim Cook, addressing the entire Apple community. Also worth reading: just a month earlier, in March, Tim Cook wrote 50 Years of Thinking Different, on Apple turning 50.

Also announced: Johny Srouji named Apple’s Chief Hardware Officer. `effective immediately, Apple executive Johny Srouji will become chief hardware officer. Srouji, who most recently served as senior vice president of Hardware Technologies, will assume an expanded role leading Hardware Engineering, which John Ternus most recently oversaw, as well as the hardware technologies organization.'

John Ternus:

Get to know Ternus a bit more: John Ternus gave commencement speech at Penn Engineering School in 2024:

John Ternus:

Tim Cook, interviewed in 2014, about how Steve Jobs hired him. Here is a video clip:

and here is the whole interview:

A photo from a day after the announcement, on April 21, 2026:

Exactly 5 days before apple announced the CEO succession plans, Apple's Greg "Joz" Joswiak, Senior Vice President Worldwide Marketing and John Ternus, Senior Vice President Hardware Engineering (at the time), sat down with Tom's Guide for an exclusive interview:

other Apple news

Just 10 days after the news about the CEO transition, Apple announced the Q2 financial results.

The Q2 Apple financial results are in. John Gruber provides comments.

2 Letters from Steve, John Gruber reports.

Apple introduces a new Pride Collection: `a new Apple Watch Pride Edition Sport Loop, watch face, and iPhone and iPad wallpaper to celebrate LGBTQ+ communities around the world during Pride Month and beyond.'

Apple has released new firmware for Airpods Pro and Max. Remember that the update happens automatically when they are plugged into and near your iPhone or iPad device. that is connected to the internet.

iOS 26.5 is expected soon. It will Add Three New Features to Your iPhone.

There is a massive memory shortage, industry-wide. Apple Cuts More Mac Studio and Mac Mini RAM Options as Memory Shortage Worsens, reports Macrumors.

Eye doctor uses Vision Pro in cataract surgery for the first time, reports Cult of Mac.

iOS apps

Bob points us to Phyphox app and an article about this app: Your phone has sensors you have never used and a free app turns them into a physics laboratory. Phyphox gives you access the the many sensors that can be found on an iPhone.

AnyList has added some significant improvements and features for recipes and meal planning, take a look:

PaperTrail `brings full TaskPaper editing to iOS/iPadOS. TaskPaper is plain text productivity—simple, fast, flexible.' Olga recommends it highly for those who use Taskpaper on a Mac.

tips & tricks

Joanna Stern:

Joanna Stern with another important tip:

Fix iPhone Autocoreet Pleaese, by Joanna Stern.

If you get spam calls, even if you do not answer, they register in your Recent Calls on your iPhone. Olga deletes these entries to avoid accidentally calling them back - which can happen easily - and can confirm your number as active.

gadgets & accessories

Shane Whatley gives an overview of his own personal routine to do spring cleaning to ensure his smart devices and his home are operating OK.

Pay or Card

For the month of May, Apple Card offers 5% cach back for purchases at Walgreens.

watch

Pedometer++ v8 has just beeen released for watchOS.

Six Years Perfecting Maps on watchOS, writes David Smith, developer of Pedometer++.

Apple has updated its watch band offerings with new colors for the spring and summer.

AI

Journalist Ronan Farrow has co-authored an extensive profile about OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman:

Elon Musk has sued Sam Altman. Ronan Farrow briefly discusses this:

Joanna Stern on AI in medical diagnostics. This is an excerpt from her book, where she explains how new technology could improve the odds for women like herself who have an elevated risk of cancer.

Roger S. points us to this video which provides an opinion and analysis on Apple's AI strategy behind the Tim Cook succession. `The common story is a smooth handoff to an Apple lifer — but the reality is more interesting: Apple just restructured the entire company around a race the rest of the industry isn't running. In this video, I share the inside scoop on Apple's hardware-first bet against cloud AI.'

‘Elon Musk Appeared More Petty Than Prepared’, Elizabeth Lopatto, reporting on Musk v. Altman from the courtroom in Oakland (gift link) and comments from John Gruber.

general news and crossover

Tech journalist Joanna Stern has left her job at WSJ. Here is her new job announcement:

Bookmark her new site: New Things with Joanna Stern.

next iPUG

Our next iPUG meeting will be on Tuesday, June 9, at 7 pm. Recall that Apple's WWDC will be the day before: on June 8, 2026.