Tim Cook to Step Down as Apple CEO, John Ternus to Lead Next Era

Apple has announced that longtime Apple CEO Tim Cook will be stepping down from his role on September 1, 2026, concluding a 15 year tenure that has coincided with Apple become one of the largest and most influential companies in the world.

Tim Cook will transition to the role of executive chairman of the Apple Board, where he will continue to advise the company, while the CEO position will be passed to John Ternus, Apple’s current head of hardware engineering, and a 25-year Apple veteran.

Cook, who succeeded Steve Jobs in 2011, has helped Apple grow from a then $350 billion company to a whopping $4 trillion, cementing the corporation as one of the most valuable in the world. During his tenure, Tim Cook oversaw the expansion of flagship products like iPhone, iPad, and Mac, as well as the launch of new categories like the Apple Watch, AirPods, HomePod, and Vision Pro, along with the rapid growth of Apple’s subscription services business with products like iCloud, Apple Music, and Apple TV.

The major announcement comes along with a thoughtful personal note from Tim Cook to the Apple community at large, which is posted on the Apple homepage, and repeated below for posterity:

To the Apple community:

For the past 15 years I’ve started just about every morning the same way. I open my email and I read notes I received the day before from Apple’s users all over the world.

You share little pieces of your lives with me and tell me things you want me to know about how Apple has touched you. About the moment your mom was saved by her Apple Watch. About the perfect selfie you captured at the summit of a mountain that seemed impossible to climb. You thank me for the ways Mac has changed what you can do at work and sometimes give me a hard time because something you care about isn’t working like it should.

In every one of those emails I feel the beating heart of our shared humanity. I feel a sense of deepening obligation to work harder and push further. But most of all, I feel a gratitude that I cannot put into words, that I somehow got to be the person on the other end of those emails, the leader of a company that ignites imaginations and enriches lives in such profound ways it defies description. What an honor and a privilege it has been.

Today we announced that I’m taking the next step in my journey at Apple. Over the coming months I will be transitioning into a new role, leaving the CEO job behind in September and becoming Apple’s executive chairman. A new person will be stepping into what I know in my heart is the best job in the world. That leader is John Ternus, a brilliant engineer and thinker who has spent the past 25 years building the Apple products our users love so much, obsessed with every detail, focused on every possible way we can make something better, bolder, more beautiful, and more meaningful. He is the perfect person for the job.

John cares so much about who we are at Apple, what we do at Apple, who we reach at Apple, and he has the heart and character to lead with extraordinary integrity. I am so proud to call him Apple’s next CEO. This company will reach such incredible heights under his leadership, and you will feel his impact in every bit of delight and discovery that grows out of the products and services to come. I can’t wait for you to get to know him like I do.

This is not goodbye. But at this moment of transition, I wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you. Not on behalf of the company, this time, though there is a wellspring of gratitude for you that overflows inside our walls. But simply on behalf of me. Tim. A person who grew up in a rural place in a different time and, for these magical moments, got to be the CEO of the greatest company in the world. Thank you for the confidence and kindness you’ve shown me. Thank you for saying hi to me on the street and in our stores. Thank you for cheering alongside me when we unveiled a new product or service. Thank you, most of all, for believing in me to lead the company that has always put you at the center of our work. Every day we get up and think about what we can do to make your life a little bit better. And every day, you’ve made mine the best I could have asked for.

Thank you.

Tim Cook

While Tim Cook’s retirement as CEO marks the end of a defining chapter for Apple, it also opens the door for an exciting future led by John Ternus, an engineer who started working at Apple back in 2001 within product design.

The Apple Newsroom announcement quotes Cook giving a rousing endorsement of upcoming CEO John Ternus:

“John Ternus has the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity and with honor. He is a visionary whose contributions to Apple over 25 years are already too numerous to count, and he is without question the right person to lead Apple into the future.”

Exciting times ahead, cheers to Apple!