John Ternus became Apple's chief executive on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, the date Apple's board set in April when it named the senior vice president of Hardware Engineering to succeed Tim Cook.

Cook, chief executive since 2011, is now executive chairman of the board. Arthur Levinson, Apple's non-executive chairman for the past 15 years, becomes lead independent director. Ternus joins the board. Apple said the succession was approved unanimously.

Cook is not leaving the company. In the April 20 newsroom release, Apple said that as executive chairman he "will assist with certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers around the world." That is the official description of the residual power. 9to5Mac, citing Bloomberg, later reported that Cook told Ternus he would keep managing Apple's relationships with President Donald Trump and the Chinese government. Apple did not put those names in the newsroom text.

"It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple and to have been trusted to lead such an extraordinary company," Cook said in April. "John Ternus has the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity and with honor. He is a visionary whose contributions to Apple over 25 years are already too numerous to count, and he is without question the right person to lead Apple into the future."

"I am profoundly grateful for this opportunity to carry Apple's mission forward," Ternus said in the same release. "Having spent almost my entire career at Apple, I have been lucky to have worked under Steve Jobs and to have had Tim Cook as my mentor."

Apple's own accounting of Cook's tenure, published with the succession: market capitalization from about $350 billion to $4 trillion; yearly revenue from $108 billion in fiscal 2011 to more than $416 billion in fiscal 2025; an active installed base of more than 2.5 billion devices; more than 100,000 additional employees; more than 500 retail stores. Services, Apple said, grew to more than $100 billion a year. Those figures are the company's. They are not a third-party audit.

Ternus joined Apple's product design team in 2001, became a vice president of Hardware Engineering in 2013, and joined the executive team in 2021. Apple said he was instrumental in iPad and AirPods and in later iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch generations. Before Apple he was a mechanical engineer at Virtual Research Systems. He holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

On Monday, his last day as CEO, Cook sent a staff memo that AppleInsider published in full, after 9to5Mac first reported it. "This is a moment I always knew would come one day, and yet it is still hard to believe it has arrived," he wrote. "I will miss this work in ways I can only begin to imagine, even as I remain completely at peace with my decision." He said he takes "enormous comfort in handing the helm to someone as brilliant and wonderful and capable as John."

The Information, as relayed by MacRumors, reported that Apple hosted a farewell gathering for Cook on Aug. 23 at Caffe Macs on the Cupertino campus, with about 200 people and a performance by OneRepublic. That is a trade report, not an Apple statement.

What happens next is a product cycle Ternus will own in public. 9to5Mac reported that Apple's Sept. 9 event will be led by Ternus and that Cook will not appear. Apple has not, in the materials reviewed for this story, confirmed the rundown of that event.

Sources