John Ternus starts as Apple CEO as Tim Cook shifts to executive chairman

Ternus takes the top job at Apple

Apple entered a new leadership era on September 1st, 2026, the day John Ternus began work as the company's chief executive. According to The Verge, it is the first change at the top since 2011, when Tim Cook succeeded Steve Jobs, and it hands one of the world's most valuable companies to a new leader.

Cook is not leaving Apple entirely. The Verge reports that he will continue as executive chairman of the company's board. In a farewell letter to staff, he wrote: "This place is proof that culture triumphs over everything. We share a belief that what we build matters, and that we have both the opportunity and the responsibility to leave the world better than we found it."

A company in transition

Ternus inherits a tougher operating environment than the one Cook enjoyed for much of his tenure. As The Verge notes, Apple is grappling with the rapid expansion of AI, shortages of RAM and other components driven by that growth, and a political and economic situation that grows more complicated with time.

He will also lead without many of the veteran executives who worked alongside Cook and Jobs. That group includes Phil Schiller, who will step down from his role leading the App Store, according to a Bloomberg report cited by The Verge.

First test arrives on September 9th

The Verge says the first hardware event of the Ternus era is set for September 9th. New iPhones are expected there, including a foldable model carrying the "Ultra" name. Beyond the products themselves, the event should offer an early look at Apple's direction under its new chief executive and reveal which executives emerge as the company's public faces going forward.

Why it matters

A change of CEO at Apple is a rare event, and this one arrives at a pivotal moment. Ternus must steer the company through an AI shift that is at once a product opportunity and a source of component scarcity, all against an increasingly difficult political and economic backdrop. With long-serving leaders like Schiller also departing, the bench that carried Apple through the Cook years is being rebuilt. The September 9th event, and the foldable iPhone expected there, will provide the first concrete signals of what Apple under Ternus intends to be.