Apple CEO Tim Cook says he is stepping down after 15 years as chief executive because three key factors aligned: Apple’s current performance, its product roadmap and the readiness of his successor, John Ternus.

Cook said the timing came down to a clear internal assessment of the company’s position and future.

“I looked at three things,” Cook told FOX Business. “I looked at the performance of the company in the first half, and it’s been remarkable. I wanted to announce at a point in time where our roadmap was incredible, and so there would be some great things happening in the future. 

“And I wanted to announce at a time that John was ready, and John is ready. And, so, all three of those things intersected, and it felt to me like the right time.”

APPLE CEO TIM COOK TO STEP DOWN IN MAJOR LEADERSHIP SHAKEUP; SUCCESSOR NAMED

Apple announced last week that Cook will step down as CEO on Sept. 1 and transition to executive chairman. Ternus, Apple’s head of hardware engineering, will take over as the company’s next chief executive.

Cook is entering the final stretch of his CEO tenure with a record second quarter. Apple revenue jumped 17%, ahead of analyst estimates, while iPhone sales increased 22% from a year earlier. Cook said iPhone sales could have been even stronger if not for supply constraints that limited availability.

The war in Iran is also affecting Apple’s business, Cook said, creating pressure on both revenue and costs.

WHO IS JOHN TERNUS, SET TO SUCCEED TIM TOOK AS APPLE’S CEO?

“It creates both revenue pressure, as you would guess, in the region, and it creates input costs across the world,” Cook said. Oil prices have risen to their highest level in four years amid supply disruptions in the Middle East and concerns around the Strait of Hormuz.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
AAPL	APPLE INC.	280.14	+8.79	+3.24%

LEADERSHIP CHANGE AT APPLE SPARKS INDUSTRY AND WALL STREET REACTIONS AS COOK TRANSITIONS ROLES

Cook also addressed investor concerns that Apple is perceived to be behind in the artificial intelligence race, as some Silicon Valley competitors spend far more aggressively on AI infrastructure.

“If you look at our year-over-year growth, we’ve really ramped significantly,” Cook said, adding that Apple uses “a hybrid model” that includes “both our own data centers and other people’s data centers.”

Microsoft, Amazon, Meta and Alphabet have collectively forecast more than…

Tim Cook is stepping down as Apple CEO and transitioning to executive chairman, with John Ternus set to take over on September 1, 2026, as reactions begin pouring in from across the tech industry and Wall Street.

Apple said the leadership change follows a long-planned succession process, with Ternus, a 25-year company veteran and current head of Hardware Engineering, stepping into the CEO role as the company navigates its next phase of innovation.

John Ternus joined Apple in 2001 and currently serves as senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, where he has overseen work on many of the company’s flagship products across iPhone, Mac, iPad and Apple Watch. He became a vice president in 2013 and joined Apple’s executive team in 2021.

During his tenure, Ternus has played a key role in developing new product lines like iPad and AirPods, while also helping drive advancements in Apple’s Mac lineup and its transition to in-house silicon.

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He has also led efforts focused on durability, materials innovation, and sustainability, including the use of recycled aluminum and new manufacturing techniques.

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Sam Altman reacted to the news by praising Cook’s legacy and impact on the tech industry.

“Tim Cook is a legend,” Altman said. “I am very thankful for everything he has done and I am very thankful for Apple.”

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Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said the transition comes at a critical moment for Apple, particularly as it pushes deeper into artificial intelligence.

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“These will be big shoes to fill and the timing of Cook exiting stage left as CEO could make sense but also creates questions,” Ives said. “Apple is making a major transition on its AI strategy and longtime CEO and legendary Cook leaving now is a surprise. We agree with Ternus as the pick.”

CNBC host Jim Cramer reacted to the news on X, writing, “Stunning: Tim Cook stepping down. This is tough news for those of us who have learned so much from him…”

Analysts also weighed in on what comes next for Apple. Reuters reported that Gil Luria, managing director of D.A. Davidson & Co., said the promotion of John Ternus signals the company may focus more heavily on new hardware such as folding phones, smart glasses, virtual reality devices and AI-powered products.

Bob O’Donnell, head of tech consulting firm TECHnalysis Research, said the company’s biggest challenge will…

To anyone who pays close attention to Apple, Monday’s CEO switch-up wasn’t a surprise.

The company’s outgoing chief Tim Cook is approaching retirement age, at 65. He’s helmed Apple for 15 years since co-founder Steve Jobs stepped away due to ill health, and he’s taken the company from a market cap of $350 billion US to about $4 trillion US. And media had been reporting that a handover might be in the works for months.

Meanwhile, incoming head John Ternus — who is currently vice-president of hardware engineering and will step up as CEO on Sept. 1 — has had a bigger role in recent years, often taking the stage at new product launches. Most notably, it was Ternus, not Cook, who unveiled the new MacBook Neo at a live event in New York City last month.

“The amount of time executives get in front of an audience for these product events corresponds to where they are in the hierarchy [at Apple],” said John Gruber, who writes the Daring Fireball blog about all-things Apple. “And, you know, Ternus has appeared more and more over the last five years.”

Ternus, despite not being a household name, has spent the past 25 years at Apple overseeing some key changes for the company. But questions remain about how he’ll govern, especially as Apple navigates big challenges related to AI.

Who is John Ternus?

A veteran of Apple, Ternus has spent most of his career with the tech giant. 

He spent a brief period with a company called Virtual Research Systems after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a mechanical engineering degree.

Since joining Apple’s product design team in 2001, Ternus rose to become vice-president of hardware engineering in 2013. He’s overseen the hardware that goes into each iPhone, iPad and Mac — and has been part of introducing new products like AirPods, and the recently debuted sturdy-yet-affordable MacBook Neo.

“John Ternus has the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator and the heart to lead with integrity and with honor,” Cook said of his successor in the company’s announcement, adding he is “without question” the right person to take over.

Gruber says Ternus’s biggest mark on the company is probably shepherding in Apple silicon — the company’s in-house computer chips.

While Apple has used its own chips in its phones and iPads since 2010, Cook announced in 2020 that the company would transition to its own silicon chips in all products, rather than relying on Intel for them. That allows it to make chips that function exactly as it wants for each product, and enables additional features, like better noise cancellation in the second-generation AirPods Pro.

“The whole Apple Silicon movement … John Ternus was directly involved with,” given his role in hardware, Gruber said. 

Chris Deaver,…

Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, John Ternus, is set to take over as the tech manufacturer’s CEO later this year after current chief executive Tim Cook announced on Monday that he would be stepping down.

Cook will transition to executive chairman of the company’s board of directors. The company said the transition followed a “thoughtful, long-term succession planning process” and was unanimously approved by the board of directors.

“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,” Cook said in a statement. 

“I love Apple with all of my being, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with a team of such ingenious, innovative, creative, and deeply caring people who have been unwavering in their dedication to enriching the lives of our customers and creating the best products and services in the world,” he added.

APPLE CEO TIM COOK TO STEP DOWN IN MAJOR LEADERSHIP SHAKEUP, SUCCESSOR NAMED

The leadership shakeup marks the first change in the company’s chief executive in 15 years, when Cook replaced Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

Ternus will take over as CEO on Sept. 1, leading the company into its next phase of innovation. He will also join the board of directors upon assuming the role.

“I am profoundly grateful for this opportunity to carry Apple’s mission forward,” Ternus said in a statement. “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. It has been a privilege to help shape the products and experiences that have changed so much of how we interact with the world and with one another.”

He joined Apple’s product design team in 2001 and became vice president of hardware engineering in 2013. Eight years later, he joined the executive team as senior vice president of hardware engineering, where he has overseen work on many of the company’s flagship products across iPhone, Mac, iPad, AirPods and Apple Watch.

Ternus also recently led the team behind the new MacBook Neo and the redesigned iPhone 17 lineup. Apple credits his leadership with driving advancements in AirPods, including active noise cancellation and capabilities that enable them to function as an all-in-one hearing health system, including over-the-counter hearing aid features.

Additionally, he has led efforts focused on durability, materials innovation and sustainability, including the use of recycled aluminum and new manufacturing techniques. Ternus has also played a key role in Apple’s transition to in-house silicon.

“I am filled with optimism about what we can achieve in the years to come, and I am so happy to know…

In a high-stakes balancing act, Apple CEO Tim Cook is rejecting political labels while aggressively aligning his company with the Trump administration’s “America First” economic agenda.

Highlighting a massive $600 billion investment in U.S. operations, Cook defended his proximity to the White House as a necessary pursuit of pro-growth policy — even as he faces a firestorm from the left over his attendance at the “Melania” documentary screening.

“You were at the inauguration last year, just feet from the president. You gave him a nice gift at the White House. You were at the screening of ‘Melania,’ the documentary for the First Lady. There’s so many people [who] say you’re really close to the administration, and you’re being criticized for that,” “Good Morning America” co-host Michael Strahan told Cook during an interview discussing Apple’s 50th anniversary.

“Well, what I do is I interact on policy, not politics,” Cook responded.

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“I’m not a political person on either side. I’m not political. And so I’m kind of straight down the middle, and I focus on policy,” the CEO continued. “And so, I’m very pleased that the president and the administration is accessible to talk about policy.”

Apple has openly been collaborating with President Donald Trump to reshore critical supply chains and move away from overseas reliance, aiming to secure a made-in-America future that hedges against global trade volatility. Cook further discussed the leading tech company’s $600 billion commitment to the domestic economy over the next four years.

“If you looked at your iPhone today, the front cover and the back cover, all of that glass will be coming out of Kentucky by the end of this year. The engine, the system on a chip, we’re gonna make over 100 million of those in Arizona this year,” Cook said.

“We’re going to make over 20 billion semiconductors in the U.S. And again, this is not only for the U.S. market-sold iPhones, it’s for worldwide iPhones,” he added. “We’ve invested more in the U.S. Absolutely. We’re a very proud American company and want to do as much here as we possibly can.”

As Apple approaches its 50th birthday on April 1, Cook also took the opportunity to shut down speculation that he is preparing to step down as CEO.

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“I haven’t said that,” he clarified. “That’s…