John Ternus is taking over from Tim Cook as Apple’s CEO

It took Tim Cook years to launch Apple into major new hardware categories, such as the smartwatch. But John Ternus could start his tenure right away with an ambitious new project: smart home hardware.

All signs point to a strong lineup of new smart home devices coming potentially this fall, putting Apple back in the game in a category where it has been painfully slow to ship new devices.

Under Steve Jobs, Apple released the groundbreaking products that defined the company. But the company wouldn’t be what it is today without Tim Cook’s reign of ruthless efficiency.

Jobs’ legacy has long been written at this point. He was stubborn, unpleasant, and a generational visionary. He pushed the limits of industrial design and brought technologies together in ways that others laughed off at the time. It’s an iconic tenure that’s basically unequaled anywhere else in tech. But the radical thinker passed the torch to a very different kind of CEO in Tim Cook in August of 2011.

Apple Silicon chips. The iPhone’s dominance. Apple Vision Pro. During Tim Cook’s 15-year tenure as Apple CEO there were highs — and in the case of the Vision Pro, maybe a low — that helped define Apple as one of the most dominant forces in tech even without Steve Jobs. But one product doesn’t get the recognition it deserves, as evidenced by The Verge’s Apple Top 50 products, where the original AirPods don’t even crack the top 10.

Before AirPods, almost all earbuds were still wired back to your phone or iPod. Apple’s ads leaned into the aesthetic with vibrant neon backdrops to frame dark, dancing silhouettes connected by the iconic, stark white earbud wires. But in 2016 that all changed. Suddenly there was Lil Buck, filmed in black and white, pulling a white case out of his pocket, flipping open the lid, putting earbuds without wires into his ears, and dancing down the streets and across the walls of Mexico City. It was a moment that reshaped an industry and turned Apple into the most important audio company of the past 25 years.

The Mac reached a series of low points in the Tim Cook era: the fiasco of the butterfly keyboard, the clunky transition to USB-C, the underutilized potential of the Touch Bar, and the occasionally lackluster Intel chip performance. For a while, it seemed like Apple had shifted all of its attention, innovation, and care toward the iPad. For Mac users, it was a rough stretch of time.

And then, with the transition to Apple Silicon in 2020, everything changed. The line was revitalized with hugely capable new chips, and Apple began prioritizing usability over thinness at all costs. The Mac is now in a new golden era, and yesterday’s changes at Apple bode really well for the future.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Granted, 19th-century proverb writers were talking about the fruit, but Tim Cook helped give new meaning to the adage with the release of the very first Apple Watch. In fact, I’d argue that when he hands the reins to John Ternus in September, it won’t be iPhones, Macs, AirPods, or the Vision Pro that defines Cook’s legacy. It’ll be how the Apple Watch set the course for modern health tech.

You don’t have to take my word for it. In 2019, Cook himself told told Mad Money host Jim Cramer, “...If you zoom out into the future, and you look back, and you ask the question, ‘What was Apple’s greatest contribution to mankind?’, it will be about health.”

Less than a year ago, Apple made headlines for a lack of AI announcements at its annual WWDC event. Ten months later, the company has announced that hardware executive John Ternus will succeed longtime CEO Tim Cook as chief executive — and the official release doesn’t mention AI once.

Ternus, currently Apple’s SVP of hardware engineering, will take over as CEO on September 1st, after Cook’s decade and a half in the role. Ternus is a 25-year veteran of the company and the first Apple CEO in about 30 years to come from the hardware sector. According to Apple, he’s led hardware engineering work for every model of iPad, as well as the most recent iPhone family and AirPods. Yesterday’s announcement highlighted Ternus’ work adding better noise cancellation and hearing health upgrades for AirPods, overseeing the MacBook Neo’s debut, and upping Apple products’ durability and repairability. Not once did the company mention his plans or relevant experience for advancing AI.

John Ternus is going to be Apple’s next CEO. And while outgoing CEO Tim Cook was lauded for his approach to logistics, Ternus’ history is that of a product person.

Ternus, Apple’s SVP of hardware engineering before being officially tapped to take over the top job, has been increasingly in the public eye to help Apple announce its latest products. Ternus helped introduce the iPhone Air last September, its flashiest new iPhone of the 2025 lineup. He’s also been the face of announcing new Macs for years, including Apple’s first Macs with Apple Silicon in 2020 that profoundly transformed Apple’s computer lineup, continuing through the 15-inch MacBook Air in 2023 and a suite of M4 Macs last year. Now, Ternus, who is 50 years old and has had a 25-year tenure at Apple, is going to be the one in charge of everything.

Though Tim Cook is shedding his CEO title for the role of Apple’s executive chairman, it appears he’ll keep one of his most important duties: that of the company’s Trump whisperer.

“As executive chairman, Cook will assist with certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers around the world,” Apple writes in a press release. Translation: he’s sticking around to deal with thorny political relationships — in particular the one with President Donald Trump.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has written a letter to the community as he prepares to step down from his role in September. “This is not goodbye. But at this moment of transition, I wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you,” Cook writes.

As part of the shift, John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, will take over for Cook, who will become executive chairman. Meanwhile, Johny Srouji is taking over for Ternus and has now been appointed chief hardware officer.

Apple has appointed Johny Srouji as its new chief hardware officer, “effective immediately,” according to an announcement on Monday. He is stepping into the shoes of current hardware engineering head John Ternus, who will replace Tim Cook as CEO in September, while Cook becomes the chairman of the board.

Last December, Srouji reassured his team that he’s not “leaving anytime soon” after a flurry of reports suggested he was “evaluating” his future with Apple. However, other notable executives have left Apple over the past year as rumors swirled about Cook’s successor, with Sabih Khan taking over for Jeff Williams as chief operating officer and Amar Subramanya stepping in for John Giannandrea as the head of Apple’s AI push.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is stepping down and will be succeeded by John Ternus, currently Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering. Ternus will take over as CEO and join Apple’s board of directors on September 1st, 2026. Cook, who joined Apple in 1998 and took over as CEO from Steve Jobs in 2011, will become executive chairman of Apple’s board.

Apple has also named Johny Srouji, previously Apple’s SVP of hardware technologies, as the company’s chief hardware officer, effective immediately. Srouji will “assume an expanded role leading Hardware Engineering, which John Ternus most recently oversaw, as well as the hardware technologies organization,” Apple says.