Apple has announced that John Ternus will become its new CEO on September 1. Tim Cook, who has led the company since 2011 following Steve Jobs' resignation, will become Executive Chairman of the Board. Cook said that Ternus, whose contribution to Apple over the past 25 years cannot be overstated, is the right person to lead the company.
Cook, 65, joined Apple in 1998. During his more than 14 years at the helm, the company's market capitalization grew from $350 billion to $4 trillion, and revenue rose from $108 billion in 2011 to $416 billion in the last fiscal year.
Under Cook, Apple released the Apple Watch, AirPods, and Apple Vision Pro, and launched services such as iCloud, Apple Pay, Apple TV, and Apple Music.
Ternus, 50, is Apple's Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering. He joined Apple in 2001 and played a key role in reviving sales of products like Mac computers, which have increased their market share in recent years, Reuters notes.
Ternus has headed the hardware engineering division since 2021 and has spent 25 years developing products at the iPhone maker. Bloomberg previously reported that he was the presumed successor to Cook.
Ternus is the same age Cook was when he took over as CEO from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
His latest achievement was the presentation of the iPhone Air last fall—the biggest iPhone update since 2017. It is a key platform for testing new chips.
Ternus, who was involved in creating the iPad and AirPods, will need to help Apple navigate a technological landscape revolutionized by artificial intelligence, after the company lost its title as the world's most valuable company to Nvidia, Reuters notes.
