Tim Cook to Step Down at Apple
- Apple announced CEO Tim Cook will step down, handing chief executive duties to another executive. - He will hand duties to Apple's head of hardware engineering, John Ternus. - The change could shift Apple's product direction and investor outlook; local Cupertino HQ will remain central (patch.com).
Apple said Tim Cook will step down as chief executive on September 1, 2026, handing the job to hardware chief John Ternus. (apple.com) Cook, 65, will stay on as executive chairman, while Ternus will also join Apple’s board of directors on the same date. Apple said its board approved the change unanimously after what it called a long-term succession process. (apple.com) Ternus currently serves as senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, the group that develops Apple’s devices from product design through reliability testing. Apple said Johny Srouji became chief hardware officer effective immediately and will take over the hardware organization Ternus ran. (apple.com) The switch puts a product engineer, not an operations executive, in Apple’s top job after a 15-year run under Cook, who took over from Steve Jobs in 2011. CNBC reported Ternus will become Apple’s eighth chief executive. (cnbc.com) Cook’s tenure turned Apple into a far larger company by revenue and market value, even as critics argued the company had become more measured in launching new categories. CNBC said Apple’s market capitalization closed at $4 trillion on April 20, more than 20 times its value when Cook took over. (cnbc.com) Ternus has spent roughly a quarter-century at Apple and has led hardware engineering since 2021. Apple said he joined the product design team in 2001, became a vice president of hardware engineering in 2013, and helped lead work on AirPods, every generation of iPad, the iPhone 12 line, and the Mac transition to Apple silicon. (apple.com) The move follows other recent leadership changes inside Apple. In July 2025, Apple said chief operating officer Jeff Williams would hand that role to Sabih Khan, while Williams stayed on temporarily to oversee the design team, Apple Watch, and health initiatives before retiring later in the year. (apple.com) Apple said Cook will remain chief executive through the summer to work with Ternus on the handoff, and then shift to policy and board duties as executive chairman. The company is keeping the transition in Cupertino, where both men appeared in Apple’s announcement from Apple Park. (apple.com)
