John Ternus, senior vp of {hardware} engineering at Apple Inc., throughout an Apple occasion in New York, US, on Wednesday, March 4, 2026.
Adam Grey | Bloomberg | Getty Photos
Apple mentioned on Monday that John Ternus is succeeding Tim Cook dinner as CEO, with Cook dinner assuming the function of government chairman on Sept. 1.
Ternus, a senior vp of {hardware} engineering, will be part of Apple’s board of administrators when he turns into chief. Apple’s non-executive chairman Arthur Levinson will change into the iPhone maker’s lead impartial director at the moment.
“Cook dinner will proceed in his function as CEO by the summer season as he works carefully with Ternus on a easy transition,” Apple mentioned in a press launch. The corporate mentioned in a submitting that the board made the appointment on Friday.
It is the primary CEO transition for Apple since Cook dinner, now 65, succeeded Steve Jobs on the helm in 2011, shortly earlier than Jobs’ dying. Ternus will change into Apple’s eighth CEO.
“It has been the best privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple and to have been trusted to guide such a unprecedented firm,” Cook dinner mentioned in a press release. “I like Apple with all of my being, and I’m so grateful to have had the chance to work with a group of such ingenious, progressive, inventive, and deeply caring individuals who have been unwavering of their dedication to enriching the lives of our clients and creating the most effective services and products on the earth.”
Apple additionally mentioned that Johny Srouji will change into chief {hardware} officer, taking up for Ternus in an expanded function. Srouji, who most not too long ago served as the corporate’s senior vp of {hardware} applied sciences, may even lead {hardware} engineering.
Apple’s market cap elevated by greater than 20-fold on Cook dinner’s watch, closing on Monday at $4 trillion. Cook dinner took house $74.6 million in complete compensation final yr, together with a $3 million base wage and hundreds of thousands extra in inventory awards, in accordance with current regulatory filings. Forbes estimates his web value at near $3 billion.
Nonetheless, as Cook dinner exits, Apple faces quite a few challenges, together with an more and more advanced provide chain, geopolitical tensions, the Trump administration’s tariffs and a reminiscence crunch tied to hovering demand for AI chips.
Ternus, 50, has been Apple’s {hardware} boss and has labored at Apple for about half his life, becoming a member of simply 4 years after he graduated from the College of Pennsylvania with a level in mechanical engineering. He is been broadly considered as subsequent in line, with current profiles in The New York Occasions and Bloomberg. His portfolio has included oversight of the {hardware} engineering groups behind the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, AirPods and Imaginative and prescient Professional.
Ternus got here to Apple after a four-year stint as a mechanical engineer at Digital Analysis Programs in 2001. At Apple, he labored on the product design group, and in 2013 he grew to become a vp of {hardware} engineering.
Revamping the provision chain
Throughout his virtually 15-year tenure, Cook dinner oversaw Apple’s bounce into wearable expertise, with the rollout of the Apple Watch, AirPods and the digital actuality headset Imaginative and prescient Professional, which has struggled to search out market adoption since its launch in 2024.
Income virtually quadrupled below Cook dinner, climbing to over $400 billion within the newest fiscal yr. Cook dinner is finest identified in Silicon Valley as an operations guru, revamping Apple’s provide chain after becoming a member of in 1998 as an government vp of worldwide gross sales and operations. When he arrived, Apple was close to chapter.
Cook dinner grew to become one in every of Jobs’ loyal lieutenants and was elevated to the function of operations chief in 2005. Earlier than becoming a member of Apple, Cook dinner minimize his tooth within the tech business spending 12 years working at IBM, serving to the corporate manufacture computer systems. He additionally hung out at former PC maker Compaq as a vp of company supplies. Cook dinner graduated from Auburn College in 1982 and acquired an MBA from Duke College in 1988.
Tim Cook dinner, chief government officer of Apple Inc., middle, and Jalen Brunson, basketball participant for the New York Knicks, proper, through the first day of in-store gross sales of Apple’s newest merchandise at Apple’s Fifth Avenue retailer in New York, US, on Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. The brand new iPhone 17 is seen as essentially the most vital improve Apple has dropped at its iPhone lineup in years, with a refreshed design and souped-up digital camera system. Photographer: Kena Betancur/Bloomberg by way of Getty Photos
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Photos
For Ternus, maybe essentially the most crucial side of his new job might be pushing the corporate deeper into synthetic intelligence, the place it is lagged lots of its megacap friends.
Whereas the iPhone 17 has performed nicely, Apple has confronted criticism from buyers and technologists for a perceived lack of cutting-edge AI expertise. That criticism grew after Apple final yr delayed an improve to its Siri voice assistant. In December, Apple revamped its AI management, changing its former chief with a Google veteran.
The corporate has mentioned it can launch an up to date model of Siri this yr based mostly on a Google Gemini AI mannequin.
Since product designer Jony Ive left Apple in 2019, the corporate has been working with out one in every of its cornerstone executives credited to creating its flagship iPhone aesthetically interesting to the plenty.
Ive has since joined OpenAI, which in Might 2025 mentioned it will purchase the design guru’s startup in an all-equity deal value about $6.4 billion.
Lately, Cook dinner acted as a public statesman to advance Apple’s pursuits, assembly with each overseas and home leaders. Initially, he pushed for elevated web privateness protections around the globe. In 2016, he notably clashed with the U.S. authorities over whether or not Apple must assist unlock an encrypted iPhone utilized by a felony gunman in San Bernardino, California. Cook dinner mentioned to take action would threaten customers’ privateness, and the FBI ultimately discovered a special option to unlock the machine.
Of late, a lot of Cook dinner’s public lobbying has centered on President Donald Trump, who has threatened and repealed a number of tariffs on imports from China and different Asian nations the place Apple does massive enterprise.
In August, Cook dinner visited the White Home, showing with Trump, to tout an announcement that Apple would spend $600 billion within the U.S. over the following 5 years.
On the August assembly, Trump, who as soon as referred to Cook dinner as “Tim Apple,” learn an inventory of the corporate’s commitments subsequent to Cook dinner and mentioned, “I like that you simply’re doing this.”
Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, instructed CNBC’s “Quick Cash” that the timing of Cook dinner’s exit is stunning.
“The view is he was going to remain on perhaps for an additional yr,” Ives mentioned. “, he is even form of made feedback about it when it comes to staying.”
Cook dinner used a “Good Morning America” look final month to close down rising hypothesis about his future on the firm, telling viewers that retirement speak is nothing greater than a rumor.
Requested about stories that he was making ready to step apart, Cook dinner instructed ABC, “No, I did not say that. I have not mentioned that. I like what I do deeply. Twenty-eight years in the past, I walked into Apple, and I’ve liked daily of it since.”
— CNBC’s Jordan Novet contributed to this report.
Correction: An earlier model of this story had the wrong age for Ternus.
WATCH: Apple executives Johnny Srouji and John Ternus on its rising chip enterprise.
