Exclusive: Apple's John Ternus on making the iPhone Air, his Watch streaks and what's still to come from Apple's design gurus...

Even if you're not fully clued up on all the latest tech, you'll probably have heard that there's a new iPhone in town. Well, there are a few actually. You might not know about the latest Apple Watches or the new AirPods Pro 3 with a heart rate sensor built in, but we would hazard a guess you've caught wind of the new iPhone Air and maybe even the redesigned iPhone 17 Pro models and heavily improved iPhone 17 too, if you've been paying attention.

If, like us, you have been wowed by the new iPhone Air, impressed by the new health features on Apple Watch, or disappointed there is still no folding iPhone, then you should hear what the person at Apple who oversees all new products had to say when we caught up with him.

John Ternus, Apple's Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, gave Shortlist a glimpse into the design philosophy behind the new super slim iPhone Air, a glimmer of hope that a folding iPhone wasn't off the cards — and a great book he reckon's everyone needs to read, too.

A new 'wow' moment

For John Ternus, the last thing that made him go "wow" was easy to identify.

"It was the first time I got to pick up an iPhone Air model," he told us before adding that he'd enjoyed watching other people pick up the device for the first time too. He said he'd witnessed a "universal reaction" where "people pick it up, they turn, and go, 'oh wow'," and while it all sounds very cheesy, we have to admit we were one of those people.

As you might expect (these things never happen overnight), the creation of the iPhone Air was the culmination of years of technological development.

"We wanted to do a product like this for a long time," Ternus told us, but to make it a "great iPhone with great battery life, performance and camera, we needed to develop a lot of technologies that have been in the works and we've been getting better at over the years."

He highlighted the significance of Apple Silicon (the company's own chips), explaining, "for the first time on an iPhone, we have A19 Pro, the SOC is Apple Silicon; we have C1X, the cellular modem; and now N1 which is our Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip. Having all of that allowed us to have incredible efficiency, which means we can have great battery life on such a thin phone."

And thin it most definitely is. At 5.6mm, it's thinner than the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge — and it looks as good as half our friends on Mounjaro.

Beyond looking after all the new products Apple announces, it might surprise you to learn Ternus still has a little spare time for hobbies. We asked him what the coolest thing he'd shot on iPhone was and he told us he likes to scuba dive.

"I shoot film and video and photos underwater with an iPhone in a case and it's really, really good for that," he said. On a professional level, he thought the movie 28 Days Later, much of which was shot on iPhone, was "absolutely amazing".

• Danny Boyle on 28 Years Later sequel The Bone Temple, Cillian Murphy’s return — and THAT shocking pregnancy

When it came to the latest iPhone feature that will have the biggest impact on everyday people, Ternus highlighted one that we're big fans of too – the new Center Stage front camera, which is available on all the new models from the standard iPhone 17 to the iPhone 17 Pro.

"I think that the new Centre Stage front camera is going to be really exciting because people love taking selfies," he told us. He also mentioned the staggering 500 billion selfies that have been taken on iPhone in the past year, suggesting this feature "completely changes that experience" by automatically shifting the view if another person enters the frame and allowing you to switch between portrait and landscape without rotating the phone. It's such a good feature, it's a surprise it's taken this long for someone to think of it, to be honest.

A folding iPhone isn't off the cards (it's just not confirmed yet either)

When asked about the future of Apple and if a folding iPhone is on the horizon, Ternus was, as expected, elusive. He was never going to tell us outright, of course — but don't ask, don't get, as the saying goes. He did give a little tease, saying "the future is the future ,and it's always going to be exciting," and when pressed on a folding iPhone, he simply replied, "who's to say..."

For those that love a deep dive, he did give us a little more insight into Apple's design philosophy, suggesting that technologies developed for one product often find their way into others.

"I think what's exciting is when we develop new technologies and new capabilities that enable a product like iPhone Air... we apply those things in different places," he told us. He used the example of the miniaturisation of technology developed for the Apple Watch and AirPods, noting that now Apple has got "good at certain things and materials, they'll start to show up in other places as well."

To us, the iPhone Air looks exactly what we would expect half a folding iPhone to look like so we're hoping that what Apple learned in making the Air does exactly what Ternus says and shows up in new places, including new formats, in the future.

For those of you deciding between the new iPhone models (it's a tough choice this year after all), Ternus compared it to Apple Mac.

"I think the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro is a good analogy for it," he said. The iPhone Air was built for customers who love a "premium 'pro' iPhone experience" but are excited by a new form factor.

By creating it though, it allowed Apple to push the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max to be "even more pro", with "more performance, more battery life, better cameras, all of those things". Like with MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, Ternus said "you kind of choose based on what matters the most to you", in this case slim form factor with good performance and battery, or top performance, camera and battery.

Health, wellness, and personal streaks

Ternus also gave us a little insight into Apple’s vision for health and wellness during our chat.

"I think what's amazing with products like Apple Watch and AirPods, we want to help empower people to have the tools they need to take care of their own health," he said.

He highlighted features like Sleep Apnea detection and Hypertension Notifications as ways to "inform people of what's going on in their body and so that they can go and talk to a doctor," before concluding that he thought it was "all about empowerment and providing great information".

When we asked him about his Apple Watch Ring streak though, we think we might beat him with our 565 days.

"I'm travelling, so I always struggle with my streaks when I'm travelling, but I guess we'll start a new one when I get home," he said. Time to put those wearables to good use!

• iPhone Air review: Apple’s cutting-edge is a slimline peek at the future of iPhone