Tim Cook—the second most iconic face of Apple after Steve Jobs—has stepped down as CEO, passing the role to John Ternus. Cook held the position for 15 years, the longest tenure of any Apple CEO. Starting September 1st, Cook will transition to Executive Chairman, where he’ll lead the Board of Directors and play a key role in shaping Apple’s long-term direction.
Cook originally joined Apple in 1998 as Senior VP of Worldwide Operations. In that role, he helped fix Apple’s supply chain issues by cutting inventory from about a month down to just six days. But his biggest impact came as CEO. When Jobs stepped down on August 24th, 2011, due to declining health, Cook took over and led Apple through one of its most successful eras. Under his leadership, Apple introduced popular products and services like the Apple Watch, AirPods, Apple Music, etc. He also oversaw one of the biggest changes in Mac history—the transition from Intel processors to Apple-designed M-series chips—which significantly boosted performance and helped solidify the Mac as one of the top-selling computers in its category.
On the other hand, John Ternus, a UPenn grad who joined Apple just three years after Cook, worked more on the technical side. He started in a product design team, working on Apple monitors like the Apple Cinema Display. Though the Cinema Display is discontinued now, its creation was the foundation of all Apple monitors today, like the Pro Display XDR. By 2005, he was leading a hardware team focused on the iMac. Over the years, he oversaw hardware development for products like AirPods, Apple Watch, and the iPhone. You’ve probably seen him presenting at Apple events and WWDCs. Currently, he serves as Senior VP of Hardware Engineering.
But why him over COO Sabih Khan, Senior VP of Software Engineering Craig Federighi, or Senior VP of Hardware Technologies Johny Srouji? This is because Apple wants to refocus on its products. Cook described Ternus as having “the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity and honor,” which aligns with what Apple needs right now. Over the past few years, Apple hasn’t made many groundbreaking changes. With a more engineering-focused leader, the company could shift back toward product development instead of just small performance upgrades and marketing.
The next few years will show whether Ternus can live up to the legacy of Cook and Jobs—or if competitors like Samsung Electronics and others start taking more ground in the tech industry. At the same time, there are already rumors that Apple is working on its first foldable iPhone and a touchscreen MacBook Pro, possibly coming out later this year or early next year.