John Ternus takes over as Apple CEO as Tim Cook moves to executive chairman

John Ternus has formally taken over as Apple's CEO, ending Tim Cook's 15-year run leading the company. The handover took effect Tuesday, according to TechCrunch, roughly five months after Ternus was publicly named as Cook's successor in April. Cook is not leaving: he stays on as executive chairman.

Ternus inherits the top job at one of the world's most valuable companies with a crowded first fortnight. Apple is expected to host its annual iPhone event on September 9, and TechCrunch reports that a reworked Siri experience powered by Google's Gemini is also on the way.

A career hardware engineer

Ternus, 51, has spent 25 years at Apple, nearly half his life. He joined the product design team in 2001 as only his second job out of college, after a stint at Virtual Research Systems, a small maker of virtual-reality devices. He became a vice president of hardware engineering by 2013 and was promoted to senior vice president in 2021, reporting directly to Cook, whom he considers a mentor.

That remit put him behind much of the modern Apple lineup. TechCrunch credits him with overseeing launches including AirPods, Apple Watch and Vision Pro, as well as the company's technically fraught transition from Intel processors to its own Apple silicon. His most recent project was the MacBook Neo, a more affordable laptop that lowers costs through hardware trade-offs such as powering the machine with an iPhone chip.

In a note to staff on his last day as CEO, Cook gave his blessing to the succession. "I take enormous comfort in handing the helm to someone as brilliant and wonderful and capable as John," Cook wrote, adding that few people understand what it takes to build world-changing products the way Ternus does.

At 15 years Cook's junior, Ternus was among the youngest of the top executives rumoured as possible successors, which TechCrunch reads as a sign that Apple's board wanted someone who could lead for the long haul. The company has had only two CEOs this millennium, so leadership continuity appears to matter deeply there.

First memo teases a huge launch

Ternus marked his first day with a memo to Apple staff, reported by Bloomberg and covered by The Verge. In it, he thanked Cook for the handover and for his years at the company, saying employees "are all better for it" and that he is grateful Cook will remain as executive chairman.

The note then turned quickly to what comes next. "We have a huge launch next week that's going to be phenomenal," Ternus wrote, a reference to the September 9 event where, according to The Verge, Apple is expected to unveil new iPhones, including the rumoured foldable iPhone Ultra and iPhone 18 Pro models. He also pointed to "incredible products already in the works and the ones we haven't even imagined yet."

A full in-tray

The new CEO's agenda is not short. TechCrunch highlights two items in particular: Apple still has ground to make up in the AI race, which the forthcoming Gemini-powered Siri is meant to address, and Ternus will have to work out what to do with the underlying technology behind the Vision Pro, the company's most ambitious hardware bet of recent years.

Unlike many of his peers in the upper ranks of tech, Ternus has kept a low public profile; TechCrunch notes he only just joined X. In a 2024 commencement speech at the University of Pennsylvania's engineering school, his alma mater, he offered a window into his mindset: "Always assume you're as smart as anyone else in the room, but never assume that you know as much as they do."

His formative Apple story also comes from that speech. In his first year, he found himself at a supplier facility past midnight, counting grooves on screw heads with a magnifying glass and arguing over a batch that had 35 grooves instead of the specified 25.

Why it matters

CEO changes at Apple are rare, generational events, and this one installs a career hardware engineer at a moment when the company's biggest perceived weakness is software and AI. Ternus' elevation suggests Apple is doubling down on the product-first culture he embodies, while leaning on outside help, notably Google's Gemini, for the intelligence layer it has struggled to build alone. The September 9 event will be his first public test as CEO, and how he balances shipping polished hardware with closing the AI gap will define the next chapter of the world's most valuable company.