Apple Names John Ternus CEO as Tim Cook Becomes Executive Chairman Effective September 1, 2026

Apple announced that Tim Cook will become executive chairman of Apple’s board of directors and that John Ternus, senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, will become Apple’s next chief executive officer effective on September 1, 2026.

The transition was approved unanimously by the Board of Directors, and Cook will continue in his role as CEO through the summer while he works closely with Ternus on a smooth transition.

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In the company’s press release, Cook said, “It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple and to have been trusted to lead such an extraordinary company.”

Cook added, “I love Apple with all of my being,” and he said he was “so grateful” for the chance to work with a team he described as “ingenious, innovative, creative, and deeply caring.”

Ternus, in the same announcement, said, “I am profoundly grateful for this opportunity to carry Apple’s mission forward,” and he promised, “I am humbled to step into this role, and I promise to lead with the values and vision that have come to define this special place for half a century.”

Apple also said Arthur Levinson, who has been Apple’s non-executive chairman for the past 15 years, will become its lead independent director on September 1, 2026, and that Ternus will join the board effective September 1, 2026.

Multiple outlets framed the leadership change as the end of Tim Cook’s 15-year run as CEO, with BBC describing Cook as stepping down after “15 years of leading the technology giant.”

BBC said Cook has been chief executive since 2011, after co-founder Steve Jobs resigned for health reasons shortly before his death, and it noted that Cook will stay as chief executive through the summer to work with Ternus on the transition.

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Apple’s press release and CNBC both tied Cook’s era to major financial milestones, including Apple’s growth from a market capitalization of approximately $350 billion to $4 trillion and yearly revenue rising from $108 billion in fiscal 2011 to more than $416 billion in fiscal 2025.

CNBC added that Apple’s market cap increased by more than 20-fold on Cook’s watch, and it reported that Cook took home $74.6 million in total compensation last year, including a $3 million base salary and millions more in stock awards.

The BBC also recalled that in 2018 Apple became the first public company to be valued at $1tn (£740bn), and it said it is now worth $4tn.

In the company’s own statement, Cook emphasized his role in a long-term succession plan, saying the transition followed “a thoughtful, long-term succession planning process,” and he said he would “assist with certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers around the world.”

The announcement positioned John Ternus as a hardware engineering executive taking over from Tim Cook, with BBC describing him as “the current head of hardware engineering” and noting he has been at Apple for 25 years.

Apple’s press release said Ternus is senior vice president of Hardware Engineering and that he will become CEO effective September 1, 2026, while CNBC said he will join Apple’s board of directors when he becomes chief.

BBC said Ternus worked on “essentially every major product the company has released,” including “every generation of the iPad,” “many generations of the iPhone,” and the launch of “AirPods and the Apple Watch.”

BBC also said Ternus oversaw the transition of Mac computer processors from Intel to Apple’s own silicon, and it quoted Cook describing Ternus as a “visionary” executive with “the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator and the heart to lead with integrity and honour.”

CNBC added more detail about Ternus’s background, saying he joined Apple in 2001 after a four-year stint as a mechanical engineer at Virtual Research Systems and that he became vice president of hardware engineering in 2013.

The Guardian described Ternus as a longtime Apple insider and said he started at Apple in 2001 and assumed the role of vice-president of hardware engineering in 2013, then head of the department in 2021.

Several reports linked the leadership change to Apple’s challenges in artificial intelligence, with BBC saying the appointment of Ternus may help Apple respond to criticism that it was “no longer innovative enough,” and it quoted analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee saying Apple “remains structurally dependent on the phone” as it “searches for its next growth engine.”

BBC also included Gil Luria’s view that having someone “so hardware-focused at the helm now shows Apple is going to put more energy into new products, like foldable phones and wearable devices like glasses.”

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BBC noted that Apple has faced criticism for being slow to jump on soaring demand for AI and said it has ended up integrating Google and OpenAI's technology into its operating systems.

CNBC similarly described challenges facing Apple, including “a memory crunch tied to soaring demand for AI chips,” and it said Ternus’s “perhaps the most critical aspect of his new job will be pushing the company deeper into artificial intelligence.”

NBC News added that Apple has struggled with adoption of artificial intelligence and that at the end of 2025 its artificial intelligence chief left the company, while it said Apple delayed the rollout of a more intelligent AI-powered Siri multiple times.

NBC News also stated that Apple turned to Google’s Gemini to power Apple’s models and that Apple said Google’s artificial intelligence would “help power future Apple Intelligence features.”

Coverage of the CEO transition varied in emphasis, even when describing the same core facts about the September 1 handoff.

BBC framed the change as “New era as Apple names new boss to replace Tim Cook after 15 years,” and it highlighted the succession context by saying Cook’s decision followed “months of speculation” and that Apple had “just celebrated its 50th anniversary.”

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CNBC, by contrast, emphasized the corporate mechanics and market implications, saying it was “Apple taps John Ternus as CEO to replace Tim Cook, who will become chairman,” and it reported that Apple’s market cap increased by more than 20-fold on Cook’s watch and that Cook’s transition is “the first CEO transition for Apple since Cook, now 65, succeeded Steve Jobs at the helm in 2011.”

The Guardian focused on who Ternus is and what his background signals, describing him as a hardware engineering executive and stating that Apple’s yearly profit now tops $100bn, while it also said in January Apple announced record revenue from its iPhones boosted by renewed demand in China.

The Verge used a different lens, describing the “multitrillion-dollar home of the iPhone, Mac” getting a new leader and discussing how Cook’s “ruthless efficiency” contrasted with Jobs’ “generational visionary” legacy, while it also said the official release “doesn’t mention AI once.”

TechCrunch framed the job as a “minefield,” describing Cook’s battles including an “2016 FBI encryption fight” and the App Store antitrust wars, and it said the incoming CEO inherits those disputes “mid-stream”.

The leadership change sets up a near-term governance and product-trajectory shift, with Apple describing Cook’s continued involvement and Ternus’s board role alongside a broader hardware leadership reshuffle.

Apple’s press release said Cook will continue in his role as CEO through the summer and then become executive chairman, assisting with “engaging with policymakers around the world,” while it said Ternus will join the board effective September 1, 2026.

CNBC added that Johny Srouji will become chief hardware officer, taking over for Ternus in an expanded role, and it said Srouji will also lead hardware engineering.

BBC reported that Cook will stay as chief executive through the summer to work with Ternus on a smooth transition, and it quoted Cook describing the job as “the greatest privilege of my life.”

In the same BBC account, analysts suggested the new CEO must address innovation and growth, with Dipanjan Chatterjee warning that Apple “searches for its next growth engine” and that the new leader “must resist the temptation of incrementalism that has plagued Apple of late.”

NBC News described additional operational and market pressures, including a “memory crisis” tied to “insatiable demand from AI data centers,” and it said Apple has so far resisted raising prices on its products.