Tim Cook Passes on the Mantle: Who Is John Ternus, Set to Become Apple’s Next-Generation CEO?

Key Points:

Apple has decided to pass on the mantle of its chief executive officer (CEO) as the tech company has announced that CEO Tim Cook is set to step down in September 2026. The 65-year-old business executive and successor to Apple founder Steve Jobs will hand over the role to John Ternus, senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering at Apple Inc. Cook’s departure marks a significant milestone in the company’s history, as he moves on to the next chapter of his life.

Tim Cook will serve as the executive chairman of Apple, working closely with the company, with Ternus taking over the position on September 1, 2026. In a memo, Cook said he was asked to step in as Apple’s CEO in 2011 after Steve Jobs resigned due to medical reasons. He also shared his optimism about Apple’s future and his excitement about Ternus becoming the company’s next CEO.

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He expressed his confidence in the company’s future and wrote, “That is why I have decided that now is the right time for me to transition to a new role as executive chairman.” Announcing John Ternus as the next CEO of the trillion-dollar company, he also shared his experience of working with him. Cook referred to Ternus as a visionary and a “man of remarkable integrity.”

“John is the right leader to help us innovate into the future, to help us break new ground on big ideas and bold new pathways, and to ensure that the values that have made us so successful and so admired for the past 50 years will remain the core of our identity and culture in the decades to come,” Cook wrote in his memo.

Before expressing his gratitude to his executive team, he shared that he would support Ternus and Apple in his new role as executive chairman “in a number of key areas and be available to offer my experience whenever and wherever it is needed.”

According to Macrotrends, Apple has amassed a net worth of over $3.5 trillion over the last decade. Tim Cook took over in 2011 and doubled the company’s profits, making it one of the biggest tech giants in the world. Apple was the second-largest technology company by revenue in 2025.

Who was Steve Jobs?

Steve Paul Jobs co-founded Apple with Steve Wozniak in 1976. Jobs was later fired from Apple in 1985 and went on to create NeXT, a computer platform development company. However, he returned to Apple in 1997 and remained there until his death in 2011.

From 2007 to 2011, the company introduced some of its most iconic products, such as the iPhone and Apple TV. The iPhone became a game-changer for the industry, with Jobs calling it a “revolutionary product.” The first iPhone was launched in 2007 at a starting price of $499.

Who is John Ternus?

John Ternus is the next CEO of Apple and will take over the prestigious role on September 1, 2026. He has been a longtime associate of the company, having worked at the trillion-dollar tech giant for more than two decades. Ternus joined Apple in 2001, working with the company’s design team. He is an American engineer who has served as the Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering at Apple since 2021.

In his role, Ternus has closely overseen the development of some of Apple’s most prominent products, such as the iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods, and Apple Watch. He is set to become the next generation CEO of Apple.

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