After 15 years as CEO of Apple, Tim Cook announced that he will step down from the role in September, with hardware development chief John Ternus set to succeed him. He has worked at the company since 1998 and became Apple’s CEO in 2011, when Steve Jobs resigned for health reasons shortly before his death.
During his tenure, the company’s annual profits quadrupled, and Apple became the first company to reach a market valuation of $1 trillion in 2018 (today it is worth $4 trillion). Cook described the position as “the greatest privilege of my life” and called John Ternus a “visionary” leader.
John Ternus has worked at Apple since 2001 and oversaw the development of successful products such as the Apple Watch and AirPods.
Ternus has worked at Apple since 2001 and oversaw the creation of successful products such as the Apple Watch and AirPods. Among his most significant achievements was leading the development and launch of Apple’s processors for the Mac range, which replaced Intel chips and helped drive a surge in Mac sales in 2020.
According to the BBC, appointing a CEO from the hardware and product side is expected to bring greater innovation and an expanded core product lineup—one of the main criticisms of Cook’s tenure. Meanwhile, according to The Guardian, he will also face pressure to invest more heavily in AI, an area where Apple has fallen behind competitors.
Sources: BBC, The Guardian