Apple has appointed longtime company executive John Ternus as its new chief executive officer, with Tim Cook set to step down from the role after more than 15 years at the helm of the technology giant.
Ternus will officially take over as Apple CEO on September 1, 2026, while Cook will transition to the position of executive chairman of Apple’s board of directors.
The leadership change marks a major transition for Apple, which has been led by Cook since August 2011 following the death of co-founder Steve Jobs.
John Ternus takes the reins
Ternus has spent 25 years at Apple, joining the company in 2001 and rising through its hardware engineering organisation.
He served as Apple’s Vice President of Hardware Engineering from 2013 to 2021 before becoming Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering.
During his career, Ternus has played a role in the development and launch of several of Apple’s major products, including the iPad and AirPods, as well as successive generations of the iPhone, Mac and Apple Watch.
Announcing the transition, Cook praised Ternus as a leader with a strong engineering background and deep knowledge of Apple’s culture.
“John Ternus has the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity and with honor,” Cook said.
He added that Ternus was “without question the right person to lead Apple into the future.”
Tim Cook moves to executive chairman
Cook became Apple’s CEO in August 2011, having previously served as the company’s Chief Operating Officer for six years.
He joined Apple in 1998 and succeeded Jobs as CEO at a pivotal moment in the company’s history.
Under Cook, Apple expanded its product portfolio and significantly increased its global business, while also growing its services operations and entering new markets.
His move to executive chairman will allow him to remain closely connected to Apple and its board while handing day-to-day leadership to Ternus.
Johny Srouji gets expanded hardware role
Apple has also announced a leadership change involving Johny Srouji, who most recently served as Senior Vice President of Hardware Technologies.
Srouji has been appointed Chief Hardware Officer, taking on an expanded role that effectively fills Ternus’ previous position while adding broader responsibilities.
The move gives another of Apple’s senior technical executives greater prominence within the company’s leadership structure.
Analysts see continuity
The appointment of Ternus has been welcomed by analysts who view him as a deeply integrated Apple veteran rather than an outsider brought in to overhaul the company.
Joe Madden, founder and president of Mobile Experts, described the decision as strategic, arguing that Apple had chosen to follow its own long-term vision rather than simply responding to Wall Street trends.
Moor Insights and Strategy Principal Analyst Anshel Sag said the transition had been well signalled but would nevertheless represent an interesting shift for the company.
Sag noted that putting an executive with a strong hardware background in charge could have a positive effect on Apple’s innovation strategy.
He also described Ternus as a long-term leadership choice who is already deeply embedded in Apple’s culture and has the trust of the organisation and the wider technology industry.
What Ternus’ appointment means for Apple
Ternus’ promotion signals that Apple is prioritising continuity while placing a leader with deep hardware expertise at the centre of the company’s next chapter.
His background could reinforce Apple’s traditional focus on tightly integrating hardware, software and services, while the company simultaneously faces increasing competition in artificial intelligence, smartphones, personal computing and emerging technologies.
The appointment also gives Apple an opportunity to maintain institutional continuity following Cook’s long tenure.
Ternus will inherit responsibility for guiding the world’s most valuable technology brands through an increasingly competitive technology landscape while maintaining the product development culture that has defined Apple for decades.
For Cook, the transition represents a step back from day-to-day management without a complete departure from the company he has led since 2011.
The leadership change will officially take effect on September 1, beginning a new era for Apple under Ternus.
