![[Michael Tran / AFP]](/cdn-cgi/image/onerror=redirect,width=640,height=640,format=webp/https://storage.googleapis.com/uploads.mongoosehq.com/url/media/172405802/1436287f7c055b692248a10109fe0d1abddab0c3e9ebcfc2df56a2970911aee5)
![[AFP PHOTO /HO/ Apple Inc. ]](/cdn-cgi/image/onerror=redirect,width=640,height=640,format=webp/https://storage.googleapis.com/uploads.mongoosehq.com/url/media/172744527/d4cdfb503040cf13019628c887b6d4a4851114f209463e6d69d698870417a9e5)
Overview
- Apple made the leadership change on Sept. 1 by installing John Ternus, the company’s vice‑president of hardware engineering, as chief executive.
- Cook sent an internal farewell titled "Thank you" that invoked Steve Jobs, praised teams for Apple’s culture, and confirmed he will become executive chair handling political affairs.
- Ternus is a low-profile engineer who joined Apple in 2001 and rose to vice‑president of hardware engineering in 2013 after long work leading the company’s product hardware teams.
- Ternus will make his first public appearance as CEO at Apple’s Sept. 9 fall event, a moment investors and customers view as the first test of his public leadership and product priorities.
- The planned internal succession preserves operational continuity after Cook’s 15‑year tenure that grew Apple’s market value roughly fourteenfold, and it sets up a shift investors should watch for in product road maps, AI plans, and hardware strategy.