Tim Cook steps down as Apple CEO after 15 years — John Ternus takes over

Tim Cook officially stepped down as Apple's CEO on September 1, 2026, ending a 15-year tenure that began after Steve Jobs' death in 2011. During that run, Apple's market value climbed from roughly $350 billion to over $4 trillion, making it the most valuable public company in the world. His successor is John Ternus, 50, the longtime Senior VP of Hardware Engineering who oversaw the iPhone, the Apple Silicon transition, and Vision Pro.

Cook isn't leaving Apple entirely. He moves to Executive Chairman, staying on the board while Ternus takes the wheel day-to-day. In a farewell memo obtained by 9to5Mac, Cook told staff: "I hand over the reins to someone as brilliant, wonderful, and capable as John with great relief. Few people understand what it takes to build products that change the world the way John does."

The engineer in charge

Ternus has spent 25 years at Apple, almost entirely on the product side. His fingerprints are on the M-series chips, the unibody MacBook, and the company's push into spatial computing. That background signals a strategic tilt — away from Cook's services-led growth model (Apple Music, TV+, the App Store) and toward new hardware categories to keep margins strong as the iPhone market matures. Whether that bet pays off will depend heavily on what comes next: foldable devices are widely expected, and Apple's AI features are still catching up to rivals.

What it means now

The market took the news calmly. Stock moved only marginally in after-hours trading, a sign that investors had priced in a planned, board-approved transition rather than a surprise, per The MBS Group. Analyst positions were largely reaffirmed rather than revised.

The harder tests are ahead. Ternus inherits active EU Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act pressure on the App Store, FTC scrutiny at home, and an ongoing push to reduce Apple's manufacturing dependence on China — a geopolitical tightrope Cook spent years learning to walk. Ternus has no equivalent diplomatic track record on that front, which is where the real uncertainty lies.

For everyday Apple users, nothing changes today. iPhones, Macs, and services run as before. The question is whether a hardware-first CEO can find the next product category that justifies Apple's valuation — and navigate the regulatory headwinds while doing it.