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Today (April 20), Apple announced that CEO Tim Cook is stepping aside to become the executive chairman of the firm's board of directors. John Ternus, senior vice president of hardware engineering, will become the next steward of Cupertino starting September 1, 2026.
Cook will help transition Ternus this summer and will likely host WWDC 2026, which kicks off in June.
“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. I love Apple with all of my being" Cook said in a press release.
Article continues belowTim Cook has led Apple for the past 14 years since Steve Jobs resigned in 2011. In total, Cook has worked at Apple over 25 years.
Ternus joined Apple in 2001 as part of the company's product design team and became the VP of hardware engineering in 2013.
"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," Ternus said. "I am filled with optimism about what we can achieve in the years to come."
This is a developing story...
Who is John Ternus?
John Ternus has been a front runner to take over the head seat for awhile now, and currently is the youngest top executive at the company at 50 years old. Assuming things go well, he could have an equally long tenure.
The rise of Ternus suggests the company is looking for a more hardware and engineering focused future.
Ternus joined the executive team in 2021 when he became the the senior vice president of Hardware Engineering. He has overseen the production and introduction of a number of product lines including the iPad, AirPods and several generations of the iPhone, Mac and Apple Watch.
He unveiled the M1 chip, Apple's first in-house designed CPU in 2020, and the iPhone Air last year.
Ternus' most recent impact was with the MacBook Neo, Apple's take on a budget-friendly laptop that quickly made an imprint on that category and has sold out so quickly
"“We’re always focused on ‘how do we make a given product better,’” said Ternus in an interview with Tom's Guide. “We’re always pushing. And we never think like, ‘well, what impact if we did something here would have on a product over here?’”
What's next for Apple?
Ternus will take over at an interesting, and somewhat fraught time for Apple and tech as a whole.
Tim Cook has already been navigating the tariff situation, and now the ongoing Iran War. There's also the RAM crisis which isn't expected to abate until 2028, at the earliest. Apple has seemingly been on top of things but reports have shown that even Apple is eating costs associated with sky high memory prices.
Meanwhile, the 20th anniversary of the iPhone is coming next year and rumors suggest it will be a huge change. Plus, Apple is expected to debut its first pair of smart glasses later this year and the first foldable iPhone this September.
Both devices are new categories for Apple that come at a time when price hikes, memory shortages, and AI are the talk of tech.
It'll be interesting to see how Ternus navigates these choppy waters while trying to bring new enthusiasm to the company.
Johny Srouji named Apple's Chief Hardware Officer
As Ternus transitions to CEO, Apple also announced a new head of hardware in Johny Srouji.
“Johny has been an incredible partner on the executive team, and is going to be an extraordinary chief hardware officer,” said incoming Apple CEO John Ternus in a press release. “I look forward to continuing to work closely with him in our new roles.”
Srouji joined Apple in 2008 and led development of the A4 chip, Apple's first in-house iPhone silicon. Since then he has been in charge of hardware engineering teams from silicon and batteries to cameras and sensors.
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