- Tim Cook is stepping down as Apple CEO on September 1, replaced by hardware engineering chief John Ternus.
- Cook will stay as executive chairman, pivoting to a ‘global ambassador’ role managing Apple’s global policy relationships.
- Ternus inherits $4 trillion market cap, a DOJ antitrust suit, a $38B India fine, and an AI gap that just lost its top executive.
Tim Cook is stepping down as Apple’s chief executive after 15 years at the helm, handing the reins to John Ternus, the company’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, effective September 1. Cook will stay on as executive chairman, with a focus on “engaging with policymakers around the world” according to Apple’s press release. The board approved the transition unanimously.
The numbers behind Cook’s tenure are staggering. Apple’s market capitalization grew from roughly $350 billion when he took over from Steve Jobs in 2011 to $4 trillion today. Revenue nearly quadrupled, from $108 billion to $416 billion last fiscal year. The company now has 2.5 billion active devices and more than 150,000 employees. Services alone grew into a $100 billion business under Cook the equivalent of a Fortune 40 company.
Ternus, who joined Apple’s product design team in 2001, has spent a quarter-century building the hardware that made those numbers possible. He oversaw engineering for iPad, AirPods, and multiple iPhone and Mac generations. His team recently shipped the MacBook Neo, the iPhone Air, and AirPods with over-the-counter hearing aid capabilities. He holds a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Pennsylvania and worked at Virtual Research Systems before Apple.
“John Ternus has the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity and with honor,” Cook said in the announcement. Ternus responded that he was “lucky to have worked under Steve Jobs and to have had Tim Cook as my mentor.”
But the job Ternus is inheriting comes with unfinished fights. The Department of Justice sued Apple in March 2024, accusing it of unlawfully dominating the smartphone market. A federal judge denied Apple’s motion to dismiss, meaning the case could grind through courts for years. India regulators hit Apple with a potential $38 billion fine for abusing its dominant position in the app market. The Ninth Circuit upheld a ruling requiring Apple to allow developers to link to external payment options, and Apple is now petitioning the Supreme Court. It’s not the only App Store headache — fake crypto wallets recently stole $9.5 million from users through Apple’s marketplace.
AI is the other elephant in the room. While Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI have poured billions into generative models, Apple is widely perceived as a laggard. John Giannandrea, Apple’s AI chief, is formally leaving the company this month following repeated delays in rolling out a more capable Siri. Ternus promised employees he would deliver AI products, according to Bloomberg, but offered no specifics on what those products would look like.
Cook’s legacy beyond the financials is deeply operational. He built Apple’s manufacturing around Chinese supply chains, then navigated two Trump administrations and one Biden administration to protect the company from trade wars. He faced down the FBI in 2016 over encryption after the San Bernardino shooting, refusing to build a backdoor into the iPhone. That standoff cemented Apple’s identity as a privacy company. He also navigated software missteps like the iOS 26 keyboard fiasco and reduced Apple’s carbon footprint by more than 60 percent below 2015 levels during a period in which revenue nearly doubled.
Some bets flopped. The Apple Vision Pro headset was too expensive and failed to gain traction. Apple’s self-driving car project was scrapped entirely. And Cook’s measured, operations-first style sometimes drew criticism for lacking the product vision that defined the Jobs era.
Bloomberg described the choice of Ternus as a bet that he’ll bring back “Jobs-era decisiveness” a pointed contrast to Cook’s methodical approach. Arthur Levinson, Apple’s non-executive chairman for the past 15 years, will become lead independent director. Johny Srouji was simultaneously elevated to chief hardware officer to fill Ternus’s old role.
Cook told employees Tuesday that he is “healthy” and plans to serve as executive chairman for a long time. Ternus will be the fourth CEO in Apple’s history.