Apple has announced that Tim Cook will step down as chief executive officer on September 1, 2026, and hand over the role to John Ternus, the company’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering.
Cook will remain at Apple as executive chairman and will continue to help the company, including on engagement with policymakers around the world. Apple said its board unanimously approved the transition after a long-term succession-planning process.
Cook will stay in the CEO role through the summer and work with Ternus on the handover. Apple also said Arthur Levinson, its non-executive chairman for the past 15 years, will become lead independent director on September 1, while Ternus will join the board on the same date. The move marks Apple’s biggest leadership change since Cook succeeded Steve Jobs in 2011.
Tim Cook exits the CEO post after leading a major expansion in Apple’s scale, revenue, and product lineup. Apple said its market capitalization grew from about $350 billion to $4 trillion under his leadership, while yearly revenue rose from $108 billion in fiscal 2011 to more than $416 billion in fiscal 2025. The company also said it expanded to more than 200 countries and territories during that period.
Apple said it now operates more than 500 retail stores and has more than doubled the number of countries where customers can visit an Apple Store. The company added more than 100,000 team members during Cook’s tenure and increased its active installed base to more than 2.5 billion devices. Those figures help explain why investors often tie Cook’s leadership to Apple’s sharp rise in value over nearly 15 years.
The company also credited Cook with overseeing the launch of major products and services, including Apple Watch, AirPods, and Apple Vision Pro, as well as iCloud, Apple Pay, Apple TV, and Apple Music. Apple said Services grew into a business generating more than $100 billion, making it one of the company’s biggest growth engines outside hardware.
Apple’s iPhone business also remained central under Cook. Apple’s 2011 annual report showed iPhone and related revenue at $47.1 billion, while its 2025 Form 10-K reported iPhone net sales of $209.586 billion. The same filing showed total 2025 net sales of $416.161 billion, which means iPhone remained Apple’s largest product category.
Cook also pushed bigger changes inside Apple’s business model. The company said he helped lead the transition to Apple-designed silicon, a shift that gave Apple tighter control over its core technologies and improved power efficiency and performance across products. Apple also said it reduced its carbon footprint by more than 60% below 2015 levels during a period in which revenue nearly doubled.
Ternus joined Apple’s product design team in 2001, became vice president of Hardware Engineering in 2013, and joined the executive team in 2021. Before Apple, he worked as a mechanical engineer at Virtual Research Systems. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.
Apple said Ternus has overseen hardware engineering work across every major product category. The company credited him with work tied to iPad, AirPods, many generations of iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch, and newer devices including MacBook Neo and the latest iPhone lineup.
Apple also said he helped drive gains in durability, repairability, recycled materials, and hardware design, including the use of 3-D printed titanium in Apple Watch Ultra 3.
The leadership change comes as Apple enters a new stretch of competition across hardware, services, and artificial intelligence. Apple’s board said Ternus brings deep technical knowledge and a strong product focus to the role. With Cook moving to executive chairman, Apple is framing the transition as a succession plan built on continuity rather than a break from its current direction.
Also Read: Apple China Revenue Surges 38%, Tim Cook’s Beijing Speech Draws Attention