Apple announced that it will soon have a new CEO, as Tim Cook will resign his current post after 15 years to take up the role of executive chairman on Apple’s board of directors. Additionally, Cook will be succeeded by John Ternus as Apple CEO, though the change will not be an immediate one for the Cupertino company.
Cook joined Apple in 1998, a few years before the first iPod devices hit the market. He was asked to join Apple by then-CEO Steve Jobs, with his first position at the company being the senior vice president of worldwide operations. Years later, Cook was appointed as Apple CEO on August 24, 2011, after Jobs resigned the post due to health concerns. He then set to work making Apple into a more diverse company, with products like Apple Watch and Apple Pay emerging during his time as CEO.
John Ternus to Succeed Tim Cook as Apple CEO
Although Cook has recently drawn controversy from his dealings with the Trump administration, his time as Apple CEO will soon come to an end. He will resign as the company’s CEO, effective September 1, 2026. Cook will then be succeeded by John Ternus, the company’s current senior vice president of hardware engineering. The move was unanimously approved by Apple’s board of directors. Cook will serve as Apple’s CEO through the summer and will work with Ternus to ensure a smooth transition. However, the exiting CEO will not leave Apple entirely, as he will become the board’s executive chairman starting on September 1.
However, Cook still has at least one major event to attend as Apple’s CEO. He will participate in delivering the keynote address at Apple’s upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) from Apple Park in Cupertino, California. The keynote will air on Monday, June 8, at 1:00 PM Eastern and will be broadcast on Apple’s website and the Apple Developer mobile app. Although no new iPhone devices will be revealed at WWDC, Apple is expected to announce various iterations of its operating system lineup, such as iOS, macOS, and tvOS, during the keynote. WWDC itself will run from June 8 to 12, giving attending app developers a chance to collaborate and incorporate various new features into their apps ahead of Apple’s upcoming operating system updates. Given that the next iteration of iOS will work on recent iPhone devices, including the iPhone 17 lineup, it remains to be seen what surprises Apple has planned.
Who is John Ternus?
As for Cook’s successor, John Ternus started his career as a mechanical engineer and designer at Virtual Research Systems, where he designed various virtual reality headsets. He joined Apple in 2001 to help work on the Apple Cinema Display. Ternus then became senior vice president of hardware engineering in 2021 and was put in charge of the Apple Watch product lineup a year later. In a community letter posted by Apple, Cook said, “John cares so much about who we are at Apple, what we do at Apple, who we reach at Apple, and he has the heart and character to lead with extraordinary integrity. I am so proud to call him Apple’s next CEO. This company will reach such incredible heights under his leadership, and you will feel his impact in every bit of delight and discovery that grows out of the products and services to come.”
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Given that Ternus’ tenure will start just before Apple’s traditional window for revealing new products, the incoming Apple CEO will likely have his work cut out for him. With the iPhone Fold being one of Apple’s rumored products in development, time will tell how Ternus will shape Apple’s future plans.
