Tim Cook hands over Apple's $4 trillion reins to 'the perfect person for the job', hardware engineering SVP John Ternus

by adminApril 21, 2026045

Tim Cook, 15-year CEO of Apple, has just handed the reins over to the company’s hardware engineering senior vice president, John Ternus. In a ‘community letter from Tim’ to the ‘Apple community’, Cook explains:

“Over the coming months I will be transitioning into a new role, leaving the CEO job behind in September and becoming Apple’s executive chairman. A new person will be stepping into what I know in my heart is the best job in the world.

After joining Apple in 2001, Ternus started his current SVP role in 2021 and, among other things, has had a lot to do with Apple’s shift over to its M-series CPUs, which are incredibly efficient and have given the x86 crowd more than a run for their money.

Apple’s budget MacBook isn’t very Apple – YouTube
Apple's budget MacBook isn't very Apple - YouTube

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He also led the MacBook Neo charge, and that laptop looks to be very efficient for the price, too—at least when it’s doing basic tasks in native apps. And I suppose the fact that it is basically an iPhone in a laptop’s body could therefore be taken as a compliment to iPhones or macOS.

Ternus will be heading the company at a point when it is worth just shy of $4 trillion. Though Cook is eager to point out that “this is not goodbye” but a “moment of transition.” With Cook staying as an executive chairman, he should still be able to work with the new CEO in directing the company if needed— though the reins are firmly in Ternus’ hands now.