John Ternus takes over as Apple CEO as Tim Cook becomes executive chairman
Apple has a new leader at its helm. John Ternus, Apple’s former senior vice president of hardware engineering, took over as the tech giant’s CEO on Tuesday, Sept 1. He succeeds Tim Cook, who announced in April he was stepping down after 15 years in the role. Cook will remain as executive chairman of Apple’s board of directors.
When Tim Cook took over as Apple’s CEO, he did not try to fill the big shoes of its legendary founder and product visionary Steve Jobs. Instead, he took Jobs’ advice: “Never ask what I would do, just do the right thing.”
Fifteen years on, having taken the iPhone maker from a $350 billion company to a more than $4.5 trillion behemoth, Cook will pass the baton to Apple hardware chief John Ternus, who will be steering the company in the AI era.
In a filing, Apple disclosed that Ternus’ annual salary was increased to $3 million.Ternus, 50, joined Apple in 2001 and has overseen key hardware innovations like the iPhone Air and the shift to Apple Silicon. His appointment comes just days before Apple’s Sept 9 product launch, rumored to include the first foldable iPhone.
