- Tim Cook will leave his position as EWC
- John Ternus to take over as CEO in September
- Cook to become CEO
The whispers were true. Longtime Apple CEO Tim Cook will step down from his role in September this year and Apple hardware leader John Tenrus will become CEO.
Apple announced the news Monday that Cook would be stepping back after 15 years as CEO in a press release where he wrote, “It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple and to be entrusted to lead such an extraordinary company.”
Of Ternus, he said: “John Ternus has the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity and honor. He is a visionary whose contributions to Apple over 25 years are too numerous to count, and he is without a doubt the right person to lead Apple into the future.”
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Ternus, who has increasingly moved from the background to a visible presence at product launches (such as the recent MacBook Neo launch) and WWDC, said in the statement: “I am deeply grateful for this opportunity to carry Apple’s mission forward.”
Although rumors have circulated for a year or more about who would succeed Cook and, lately, whether it would be Ternus, the announcement now comes as a surprise. After all, just a few weeks ago, Cook weighed in in interview after interview about Apple’s 50-year history, his time with the company, and its future potential. It looked like it might be around for at least a few more years.
Now, while Cook may speak at the next WWDC in Cupertino, California, it will be Ternus who, in September, will present the rumored iPhone 18, the possible iPhone Fold and the long-awaited iPhone Glass (AR glasses).
Last month, Cook told Good Morning America’s Michael Strahan that he “can’t imagine life without Apple,” which many interpreted as Cook hoping to remain CEO for the foreseeable future. In truth, that comment aligns with his new reality. With Ternus as the new CEO (in September) and Cook as executive chairman, he can step away from the intense pressure of being CEO of one of the most valuable companies in the world, while still being part of a place he clearly loves.
The Cook era
Apple’s announcement means everyone can now begin to fully evaluate Cook’s tenure as CEO. A news anchor asked me to rate it. I gave Cook a “B+,” but it might actually be an A-.
From a revenue and company value standpoint, Cook more than delivered. Transforming one of the hottest tech companies from a $350 billion success story under Steve Jobs, who died in 2011, to a $4 trillion monster.
Cook’s legacy will surely be Services, once a relatively small part of the company in 2011 and now a fast-growing multibillion-dollar revenue engine that could one day eclipse iPhone revenue. Cook can also be credited with pushing the Apple Watch into existence and steering Apple toward a focus on health and wellness.
From a management perspective. Cook has been nothing like the mercurial Jobs and his openness about the need for diversity and inclusion, and revealing his own sexual orientation proved to be a defining moment for high-level executives at Fortune 50 companies.
Where Cook has stumbled is in surprising innovation. The Vision Pro was his biggest twist, but it’s not a commercial success, although his legacy can be found in the upcoming Apple Glass AR glasses, which will still have Cook’s fingerprints all over them (even if Cook was reportedly never one to get down to the nitty gritty details of building devices like his predecessor).
Cook has failed to fight the AI beast for Apple. Although the company launched Apple Intelligence, it has fallen far behind Google, OpenAI and others in the pure AI race. Again, we expect this to change starting at WWDC2026, when the company finally launches the revamped Siri with Google’s core models underneath.
Ternus is well known as a hardware maverick and I’ve had conversations with him on and off since 2015 or so. He’s handsome, smart, and Apple to the core. Will it lead the company toward greater hardware changes, or will it take the lesson of the MacBook Neo and finally give Apple consumers exactly what they want?
I guess we’ll be waiting until September to really find out.
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