Apple names John Ternus as next CEO

• Apple announced that John Ternus will become Apple’s next Chief Executive Officer on September 1.

• He will succeed Tim Cook, who will become executive chairman of Apple’s board of directors.

• Cook will continue in his role as CEO through the summer as he works closely with Ternus on a smooth transition. 

• The transition, which was approved unanimously by the Board of Directors, follows a thoughtful, long-term succession planning process.

Who is Tim Cook?

• Tim Cook joined Apple in 1998. 

• He became CEO in 2011 and has overseen the introduction of numerous products and services, including new categories like Apple Watch, AirPods, and Apple Vision Pro, and services ranging from iCloud and Apple Pay to Apple TV and Apple Music. 

• Under Cook’s leadership Apple has grown from a market capitalisation of approximately $350 billion to $4 trillion, representing a more than 1,000 per cent increase, and yearly revenue has nearly quadrupled, from $108 billion in fiscal year 2011 to more than $416 billion in fiscal year 2025. 

• The company has expanded its global footprint substantially, particularly in emerging markets. It is now in more than 200 countries and territories. 

• During his tenure, Apple has grown by more than 100,000 team members and increased its active installed base to more than 2.5 billion devices.

• Cook was also instrumental in creating the wearables category at Apple, which now includes the world’s most popular watch and headphones, and which has served as the foundation for Apple’s remarkable impact on the health and safety of its users. 

Who is John Ternus?

• Prior to Apple, Ternus worked as a mechanical engineer at Virtual Research Systems. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

• Ternus joined Apple’s product design team in 2001 and became a vice president of hardware engineering in 2013.

• He joined the executive team in 2021 as senior vice president of hardware engineering.

• Throughout his tenure at Apple, Ternus has overseen hardware engineering work on a variety of groundbreaking products across every category. 

• He was instrumental in the introduction of multiple new product lines, including iPad and AirPods, as well as many generations of products across iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch.

• Ternus’s work on Mac has helped the category become more powerful and more popular globally. 

• Under his leadership, his team also drove advancements in AirPods, with  the capability to become an all-in-one hearing health system that can serve as over-the-counter hearing aids.