Apple said Monday afternoon that Tim Cook will step down as CEO, a role he has held since 2011, when he succeeded the late Steve Jobs. Senior Vice President of Materials Engineering John Ternus will assume the executive position on September 1 of this year.
Cook will remain at the company as executive chairman, and Ternus will join Apple’s board of directors. Arthur Levinson, who has served as Apple’s non-executive chairman for the past 15 years, will become an independent director, effective September 1.
The change has been long-awaited and ends one of the longest and most influential CEO jobs at any company. Cook took over at a time of real uncertainty — Jobs died of pancreatic cancer six weeks after he officially retired — and inherited a company that many industry watchers and enthusiasts struggled to separate from its legendary founder. He left behind a $4 trillion business with annual revenue that more than quadrupled on his watch.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to be CEO of Apple,” Cook said in a statement on Monday. “I’ve loved Apple for the rest of my life, and I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with a team of brilliant, creative, creative, creative and deeply caring people who have been unwavering in their commitment to enriching the lives of our customers.”
When Cook arrived in Cupertino in 1998, he was not hired as a visionary. Instead, Jobs, who had just returned to Apple after years away, needed someone to fix the supply chain, which was a disaster, on multiple accounts. Cook, a native of Mobile, Alabama, who spent 12 years at IBM before working at Intelligent Electronics and Compaq, did what was required and more. He quickly closed warehouses and integrated suppliers, and has been widely credited with turning Apple’s manufacturing operation into a competitive advantage over time instead of a liability.
His promotion to the position of CEO was hardly a foregone conclusion.
For years, the assumption in and around Silicon Valley was that no one could follow Jobs. It was hard to imagine someone more like a luxury brand than Cook, a methodical supply chain and operations expert. But when Jobs’ health forced him to step down several times – in 2004, 2009, and 2011 – Cook managed the company so well that when Jobs officially gave him the title, he was the obvious candidate.
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There was, famously, a subsequent stumble. Among the most high-profile was the Apple Vision Pro, a mixed-reality headset that Cook championed as the company’s next big platform and largely overlooked by consumers who didn’t want to pay several thousand dollars to strap a computer that weighed more than a pound to their face.
However, his tenure was very successful in other ways. As the company noted in its communications Monday about the executive shake-up, Cook has turned Apple Services into a business worth more than $100 billion a year. Apple also credits him with creating a thriving wearables division at Apple. (Last year, the Apple Watch made up about 25% of smartwatch sales worldwide.)
Levinson, in a statement on behalf of the board, called Cook’s leadership “unprecedented and outstanding,” saying that “Cook’s integrity and values are infused into everything Apple does.” Levinson added that the board is “very pleased” Cook will continue as executive chairman.
Ternus, who is 51 and almost the same age as Cook when he became CEO, has spent almost his entire career at Apple. A California native, he studied mechanical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, competed on the varsity swim team, and graduated in 1997. After a brief stint designing virtual reality headphones at a small company called Virtual Research Systems, he joined Apple’s product design team in 2001. In 2013 he was vice president of hardware engineering. In 2021, when his predecessor Dan Riccio stepped aside to oversee what would become the (bad) Vision Pro, Ternus was promoted to senior vice president, making him the youngest member of Apple’s executive team.
Unsurprisingly, Ternus has been involved in much of what Apple has shipped over the past decade. According to Apple, he was a key contributor to the launch of the iPad and AirPods and has overseen multiple generations of the iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch. His team’s work was made even more visible this past fall, with the launch of a new iPhone lineup that includes the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, the iPhone Air — described by Apple as ultra-thin and durable — and the iPhone 17 itself.
On the Mac side, Ternus has helped strengthen the category, including the recent launch of the affordable MacBook Neo. His team is also credited (by Apple) for pushing AirPods to the point where they no longer function as headphones but as an over-the-counter health system.
Beyond the products themselves, Ternus has made durability and repairability a major area of focus. Apple credits him with introducing new materials and manufacturing methods that have reduced the carbon footprint of Apple products, including a new recycled aluminum alloy used in many product lines, while also extending the life of several Apple devices through improvements in their repair.
In his statement on Monday, Ternus said: “Having spent almost my entire career at Apple, I was fortunate to work under Steve Jobs and to have Tim Cook as my mentor,” he said. “I am humbled to step into this role, and promise to lead with the principles and vision that have defined this special place for 50 years.”
Cook from Ternus also said: “John Ternus has the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity and honor,” he said. “There is no doubt that he is the right person to lead Apple in the future.”
