The rumors turned out to be true after all. Tim Cook is stepping down as Apple CEO effective September 1. The 65-year-old Cook will remain as executive chairman of the board of directors. His successor is John Ternus, currently senior vice president of hardware engineering. Rumors about Cook’s departure had been circulating for some time.
The 65-year-old Cook, who has been with the company for nearly thirty years, will therefore remain at Apple, but as executive chairman. His successor is John Ternus. It had been known for some time that Apple was working on Cook’s succession. Earlier this year, we reported that Apple had been developing a succession plan for some time. Interestingly, reports also surfaced in late 2025 suggesting that Cook’s departure was not imminent after all.
Cook joined Apple in 1998 and took over from Steve Jobs in August 2011, who passed away a few months later. Under Cook’s leadership, Apple grew into a company with a market value of over four trillion dollars. “It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be Apple’s CEO and to be trusted to lead such an extraordinary company,” said Cook.
John Ternus named new CEO
The 50-year-old Ternus is a mechanical engineer and studied at the University of Pennsylvania. He has been with Apple since 2001. In 2013, he became vice president of hardware engineering. Eight years later, he joined the executive team as senior vice president. Among other things, he worked on the launch of products such as the iPad and AirPods. He was also closely involved in the transition from Mac to Apple Silicon. Johny Srouji will take over his current position as Chief Hardware Officer.
Lagging AI Performance
Apple’s performance lags behind that of other major tech companies such as Alphabet, Nvidia, and Microsoft. Apple significantly reorganized its AI structure over the past year. For instance, AI chief John Giannandrea left at the end of 2025, and his advisory term officially ended in early April. Apple previously signed a multi-year deal with Google in which Gemini models will serve as the basis for new AI features in Siri. In early June, it’s time for the WWDC again, where the revamped Siri is expected to be unveiled, among other things.