Tim Cook to Step Down as Apple CEO; John Ternus Named Successor

Apple said Monday that Tim Cook will step down as chief executive and that John Ternus, its head of hardware engineering, will succeed him on Sept. 1, CBS News, NBC News and the Associated Press reported. Cook, 65, will become executive chairman of the board, replacing Arthur Levinson, CBS News said.

Cook has run Apple since 2011, when he took over from co-founder Steve Jobs. Under him the company’s market value rose by more than $3.6 trillion, the AP and CBS News reported, and NBC News said the shares gained more than 1,700 percent. Apple is now valued at more than $4 trillion, making it the world’s third most valuable public company behind Nvidia and Alphabet, according to NBC News. CBS News reported that Cook expanded services such as Apple Pay, Apple TV and Apple Music, which generate more than $100 billion a year, and oversaw launches of the Apple Watch and AirPods. The AP noted he never shook the perception that he lacked Jobs’ vision, but built on the iPhone’s popularity.

Ternus has worked at Apple for about 25 years and joined the design team in 2001, according to CBS News and NBC News. NBC News said Apple called him “instrumental” to products including the iPhone and AirPods. “Having spent almost my entire career at Apple, I have been lucky to have worked under Steve Jobs and to have had Tim Cook as my mentor,” Ternus said in a statement. Cook said Ternus “has the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity and with honor.” Cook will remain CEO through the summer to work on the handoff, Apple said, per NBC News. The AP compared the arrangement to the transitions at Amazon and Netflix, where founders moved to chairman roles.

Analysts saw a hardware-first company choosing one of its own. Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge told clients, as quoted by CBS News, that Ternus’s selection “won’t be shocking” and speaks to how Apple sees itself as a hardware-first organization. Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities said Cook is leaving “at a critical time” as Apple makes a major transition in its AI strategy, calling the timing “a surprise.”

NBC News listed the challenges awaiting Ternus. Apple has struggled with artificial intelligence: its AI chief left at the end of 2025, a more capable Siri has been delayed several times, and the company has turned to Google’s Gemini to help power its models. Its Vision Pro headset, released in 2024, has not gained wide adoption.

Washington is part of the job as well. NBC News reported that Cook avoided many of the highest tariffs while building a personal relationship with President Trump, moving some production to the U.S., including a Mac Pro assembly line in Houston, and pledging to make all the glass for iPhones and Apple Watches in Kentucky. Apple implied Cook would keep serving as its ambassador to politicians as executive chairman, NBC News said. Apple shares fell less than 1 percent in after-hours trading, according to NBC News.