Apple’s Tim Cook to step down as CEO, John Ternus to take over iPhone maker

Stephen Nellis

Updated April 21, 2026 — 7:24 am,

SanFrancisco: Apple CEO Tim Cook is stepping down from the post he inherited from the late Steve Jobs, ending a 15-year reign in which the company’s market value rose to more than $3.6 trillion ($5.02 trillion) during a period of iPhone-fueled prosperity.

Cook, 65, will hand over CEO duties to John Ternus, Apple’s head of hardware engineering, effective September 1 and will continue to serve as chairman of the California company.

Tim Cook will resign as CEO of Apple.Bloomberg

This is similar to the transitions Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Netflix’s Reed Hastings made after completing their highly successful CEO tenures.

“I love Apple with every fiber of my being, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with such a team of ingenious, innovative, creative and deeply caring people who remain steadfastly committed to enriching our customers’ lives and creating the best products and services in the world,” Cook said in a statement.

Ternus, who joined Apple in 2001, most recently led the company’s hardware engineering efforts and played a key role in revitalizing sales of products that have gained market share in recent years, such as Apple’s Mac computers.

“I am extremely grateful for this opportunity to advance Apple’s mission,” Ternus said in a statement. “I am lucky to have worked alongside Steve Jobs and to have Tim Cook as a mentor.”

In choosing Ternus’ CEO, Apple is shifting from Cook, the supply chain guru who helped transform Apple into a global brand that produces hundreds of millions of units annually, to a leader who has long focused on design and products.