This may be the most significant leadership change of this generation. Tim Cook will hand over the reins of Apple Inc. to John Ternes, who will become Apple’s next Chief Executive Officer from September 1. Apple’s expected leadership change has been formalized shortly after the 50-year milestone. Cook will continue in his role as CEO for the next few months to help Turnus make a smooth transition, with Turnus’ tenure as CEO beginning just before the expected annual iPhone keynote in the same month. Tim Cook will become the executive chairman of Apple’s board of directors. Ternus is currently Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering.
Cook, 65, describes his time as Apple CEO as “the greatest privilege of my life.” He added, “I love Apple with all my heart, and I’m grateful to have the opportunity to work with such a talented, innovative, creative, and deeply caring team of people who have been unwavering in their dedication to enriching the lives of our customers and creating the best products and services in the world.”
Ternes, 50, says he is “so grateful for this opportunity to advance Apple’s mission”, adding, “Having spent almost my entire career at Apple, I have been fortunate to work under Steve Jobs and have Tim Cook as my mentor. It has been a privilege to help shape products and experiences that have profoundly changed the way we interact with the world and each other. I look forward to what we can accomplish in the years to come.” I’m full of optimism about it, and I’m thrilled to know that the most talented people on Earth are here at Apple, determined to be a part of something bigger than any of us.
This statement from Turnus points the way to continuity and continuity, “I am grateful to step into this role, and I promise to lead with the values and vision that have defined this special place for half a century.” Ternes will join the board of directors on September 1.
Timothy Donald Cook joined Apple in 1998 and became CEO in 2011. Coincidentally, Cook also took over the role of CEO shortly before an important speech in October of the same year—the same year the iPhone 4S was announced. In 14 years as CEO, and 28 years at Apple, he led Apple to a peak market capitalization of $4 trillion in October 2025. This number represents an estimated increase of more than 35 times in Apple’s stock price since Cook took over in 2011, with there now being more than 2.5 billion active Apple devices (iPhones, Macs, iPads, Watches, etc.) worldwide. It’s a measure of how deeply Apple’s ecosystem is embedded in daily life on a global scale.
To put Cook’s tenure in a broader context – only 8% of S&P 500 CEOs have tenures longer than 20 years, and the average CEO tenure is expected to decline from 6 years in 2013 to just 4.8 years in 2022. By modern standards, this is rare. Jensen Huang of Nvidia (1993–present, 30+ years) and Marc Benioff of Salesforce (1999–present, 25+ years), two equally rare examples of human founders.
“John Ternes has the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity and respect. He is a visionary whose contributions to Apple over 25 years are already too many to count, and he is undoubtedly the right person to lead Apple into the future. I couldn’t be more confident in his abilities and his character, and I look forward to working closely with him on this transition and in his new role as Executive Chairman,” Tim Cook praised Turnus.
Ternus has translated Cook and Apple’s product vision into reality with absolute precision over the years. The most recent and already very popular Apple MacBook Neo may be the first to come to mind, but the MacBook range, the iPad portfolio, the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro phones, as well as the Mac Studio that last year took charge of the most powerful Mac ever, have some unforgettable chapters in Turnus’s book.
When Cook took over as CEO, he was the chief operating officer (COO). Leander Kahn, veteran tech journalist and author of the biography Tim Cook: The Genius Who Took Apple to the Next Level, called Cook “the guy who runs the supply chain.” Ternus, transitioning from Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, brings the necessary blend of product and engineering focus – someone who knows the balance of achieving the sparkle that the world sees when a new product launches, as well as the work that goes deep inside the research and engineering labs. Perhaps this is the need of the hour.
As for Ternus, who has already underlined the need to remain consistent with the vision set for Apple by Tim Cook over the years, he will face the broader challenge of not only ensuring that key product lines remain exciting and successful, but also continuing to drive the revenue stream that is the services business (it’s now a $100 billion-plus business, according to official figures), as well as create new product lines. It was Cook who oversaw the birth of a variety of products and services, including new categories like the Apple Watch, AirPods and Apple Vision Pro, and services ranging from iCloud and Apple Pay to Apple TV and Apple Music.
Apple is projected to have a market capitalization of $4 trillion in 2025, along with annual revenues of $416 billion in the same fiscal year. One of the big things for Turnus to tackle will be the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) efforts, with Apple Intelligence competing with a number of AI rivals who often have a lot to say.
