Apple CEO Tim Cook formally said goodbye on Sept. 1 and published a company-wide letter on his final day in the job, closing out a 15-year run as chief executive. With that, Apple is completing another major transfer of power: Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering John Ternus is taking over as CEO, becoming the third chief executive in the company’s history.
Cook’s public farewell post was brief. His letter to employees ran more than 1,000 words and centered on what he said mattered most to him during his tenure. The thing he was proudest of, Cook wrote, was not something that would ever appear in earnings reports, but Apple’s culture of using technology to make the world better. He also returned to a line from Steve Jobs about leaving a mark on the universe, and said he felt reassured handing the company to Ternus, whom he described as someone who knows how to build products that change the world.
Cook is not cutting ties with Apple. After stepping down as CEO, he will become executive chairman of the board. Bloomberg reported that even after giving up the chief executive role, Cook will remain closely connected to the company and continue helping with global policy matters, including maintaining strong relations with the Trump administration and China.
At Berkshire Hathaway’s 2026 annual shareholder meeting, Warren Buffett praised Cook as the one who carried forward Jobs’ legacy. Reactions to Cook’s farewell included thanks from supporters and nostalgia for his familiar “Good Morning.” As the report put it, this is not exactly “Good Bye.”
Cook leaves behind a larger Apple
Apple held a farewell event for Cook at Apple Park on Aug. 23, attended by more than 200 people. Steve Jobs’ widow, former COO Jeff Williams and incoming CEO Ternus each spoke. OneRepublic, Cook’s favorite rock band, also performed.
Cook was born on Nov. 1, 1960, in Mobile, Alabama, and grew up in nearby Robertsdale. His father worked in a shipyard and his mother worked in a pharmacy. He graduated from Auburn University in 1982 with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering, then earned an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business in 1988, graduating in the top 10% of his class and receiving the Fuqua Scholar distinction.
Before joining Apple, Cook built a long track record in supply chain management. He spent 12 years at IBM, ultimately becoming director of North American fulfillment for the company’s personal computer business, overseeing manufacturing and distribution across the region. He later served as chief operating officer at Intelligent Electronics, an electronics distributor, and in 1998 joined Compaq as senior vice president for corporate materials. About six months later, he accepted Jobs’ invitation to join Apple.
Cook joined Apple in March 1998 as senior vice president for worldwide operations, became chief operating officer in 2005, and succeeded Jobs as CEO on Aug. 24, 2011. Early in his Apple tenure, he shut down several company-owned factories, shifted production to contract manufacturers, and cut inventory cycles from months to days or even hours.
In a 2018 exclusive interview with Axios, Cook said he wakes up before 4 a.m. each day and spends the first hour going through user feedback emails and outside messages. After that, he heads to the gym at 5 a.m. for an hour-long workout.
During Cook’s 15 years leading Apple, the company’s annual revenue rose from about $108 billion to nearly $416 billion. Its market capitalization climbed from $350 billion past $1 trillion, $2 trillion, $3 trillion and $4 trillion, and briefly crossed $5 trillion this year. The report says that run made Apple one of the most profitable companies in commercial history.
Cook also showed that Apple could still open up new product categories after Jobs. During his tenure, Apple launched the Apple Watch and AirPods, while building a services ecosystem worth more than $100 billion across iCloud, Apple Pay, Apple Music and Apple TV+. According to the report, services revenue now exceeds the entire profit Apple generated when Cook first took over.
On the chip front, Cook strongly backed the Apple Silicon strategy, helping Apple reduce reliance on outside chip suppliers. He also pushed strict environmental goals, steering Apple’s global operations to carbon neutrality and committing the company to achieve carbon neutrality across its full supply chain by 2030.
Ternus takes over as Apple faces a crowded agenda
Ternus is stepping into the role at a demanding moment. The report says he will immediately face a combination of major product launches, Apple’s AI reset and a broader rebuilding of the executive bench.
Apple’s upcoming fall event is expected to feature the company’s first foldable iPhone and a smart display that can identify who is speaking and tailor content accordingly. As hardware chief, Ternus had already been involved in planning a wider pipeline that includes camera-equipped AirPods, AI glasses, a smart home security system, a home display connected to a robotic arm, and a camera pendant that can be worn as a necklace or clipped to a shirt.
His most urgent challenge may be the new Siri AI system scheduled for release in September. After struggling with its in-house AI models, Apple is now using Google Gemini as one of the underlying technical supports, according to the report. Bloomberg said Ternus will need to prove that the new Siri can reverse its weak reputation, win over developers and users, and persuade them to pay for Apple’s AI services, creating a long-term monetization path for expensive AI infrastructure spending.
The report says Apple has spent years planning camera-equipped AirPods and a flagship smart home device with a display, but repeated delays followed because of shortcomings in AI software. The new Siri AI is expected to change some of that and support a new Apple TV set-top box and HomePod mini.
At an employee meeting, Ternus said, “I’m incredibly excited to step into this role at this moment, because I can tell you that we’re about to change the world again.” He added: “We have an astonishing product roadmap in front of us.”
Technology and products are only part of the job. Ternus also faces the task of rebuilding Apple’s executive ranks. The report draws a contrast with Cook’s succession 15 years ago, when he inherited a management team fiercely loyal to Jobs and still largely in its prime. Apple’s top leadership remained highly stable through most of Cook’s era, but Bloomberg said the company could see roughly half of its leadership turn over in the coming years.
Among the veterans expected to retire or step aside over the next several years are hardware technology chief Johny Srouji, marketing chief Greg Joswiak, and retail and human resources chief Deirdre O’Brien. Many of Cook’s senior executives stayed well into their early 60s or close to 70, the report said.
Phil Schiller is also set to give up oversight of the App Store and Apple launch events. The 66-year-old Schiller, who served as Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing before leaving that role in 2022, is doing so as part of a retirement plan rather than a sudden departure. He is expected to remain with Apple in an advisory or as-needed capacity.
Outside media cited in the report said Ternus has less experience in areas such as finance, sales, legal affairs, government relations and procurement, meaning he will depend heavily on other Apple executives. Some executives are said to be concerned about his ability to handle supply chain and logistics issues, especially during the current memory chip shortage.
Ternus will need to quickly develop new successors across hardware, marketing, retail, HR and a design organization that had been weakened earlier. During the transition, he is expected to rely heavily on Chief Operating Officer Sabih Khan, Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh and services chief Eddy Cue. Talent retention may be even more urgent than executive reshuffling: the report says hundreds of former Apple employees are now working in OpenAI’s hardware division.
Who is John Ternus
Compared with Cook, Ternus is less familiar to the broader public. He was born in May 1975 and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. While at Penn, he competed on the men’s swimming team and won the 50-meter freestyle and 200-meter individual medley in a 1994 college competition.
His senior design project was a “mechanical feeding arm” that could be operated by head movements for people with quadriplegia. The report also describes him as an outdoor enthusiast who is keen on road cycling and motorsports. He often drives his Porsche at California’s Laguna Seca track and once led Apple colleagues on an off-road rally experience in Washington state.
Bloomberg and other foreign media outlets described Ternus as “highly approachable” and widely liked, noting that he has long worked side by side with engineers in open office areas. His first job after graduation was as a mechanical engineer at Virtual Research Systems, where he worked on hardware development for early virtual reality headsets.
Ternus joined Apple in 2001 as part of the Product Design Team during the second major innovation wave after Jobs’ return. His first project was the Apple Cinema Display. In a 2024 commencement speech at the University of Pennsylvania’s engineering school, Ternus recalled arguing intensely with suppliers over the number of grooves in a screw head on that first project — whether there should be 35 or 25. It sounded unreasonable, he said, but it was the right thing to do.
Some outside media cited in the report say Jobs’ obsession with product detail, and his strict demands for cross-functional collaboration, shaped the foundation of Ternus’ engineering management philosophy.
Across the iPad and Mac businesses from 2001 to 2020, Ternus was deeply involved in the iPad hardware architecture from the first generation and helped push through Apple Pencil and its magnetic charging system. To fully unlock the iPad’s hardware performance, he personally persuaded software engineering chief Craig Federighi to develop a dedicated iPadOS for the tablet lineup.
After being promoted to vice president of hardware engineering in 2013, Ternus became a central leader in Mac development and oversaw the hardware transition from Intel processors to Apple Silicon, the M-series chips. The report describes that shift as Apple’s most successful computing platform architecture overhaul in nearly two decades.
He became senior vice president of hardware engineering in 2021, succeeding Dan Riccio. Since then, his scope has expanded to include Apple’s entire hardware portfolio, covering the iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods, Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro. Under his leadership, the report says, the team launched the ultra-thin iPhone Air.
Cook once told employees, “There is no one in the world I trust more than John to lead Apple into the future.” As of now, Apple’s official website has not yet updated the titles listed for Cook and Ternus. The formal change is expected on Sept. 1, U.S. time.
A new management cycle begins
Cook leaves behind strong cash flow, a vast services ecosystem and an efficient global supply chain. Ternus inherits a financially powerful company, but one that now has to answer the question hanging over the AI era: can Apple lead again through technological innovation as artificial intelligence reshapes the industry.