Tim Cook to Become Executive Chairman; John Ternus Named CEO

Apple’s board has voted unanimously to make Tim Cook executive chairman on Sept. 1, 2026, and to appoint John Ternus as the company’s chief executive officer. Cook will remain at Apple during the transition and continue to participate in policy discussions. Ternus will join the board when he assumes the CEO role.

The board approved the change after reviewing the company’s executive lineup. Ternus has been senior vice president of Hardware Engineering and has overseen engineering across Apple’s product families. He joined Apple’s product design team in 2001, became vice president of Hardware Engineering in 2013 and joined the executive team in 2021.

Apple described several engineering advances under Ternus’s leadership. His team introduced the iPhone 17 family last fall and worked on improvements to AirPods, including stronger active noise cancellation and hearing-health features that can function as over-the-counter hearing aids. He has also pushed for greater product durability, expanded use of recycled aluminum, tested 3-D-printed titanium in the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and backed repair changes intended to extend product life.

Cook joined Apple in 1998 and became CEO in 2011. During his time as CEO, Apple launched new product categories such as Apple Watch, AirPods and Apple Vision Pro, and expanded services including iCloud, Apple Pay, Apple TV and Apple Music. Apple said its market value rose from about $350 billion when Cook became CEO to roughly $4 trillion, and annual revenue increased from $108 billion in fiscal 2011 to more than $416 billion in fiscal 2025. The company now operates in more than 200 countries and territories, runs over 500 retail stores, added more than 100,000 employees since 2011 and reports an active installed base above 2.5 billion devices. Apple Services grew to a business worth more than $100 billion, the company said.

In a note accompanying the announcement, Cook wrote, “It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple.” He described Ternus as “the mind of an engineer” and said he would lead with integrity. Ternus said he was “profoundly grateful” for the opportunity, recalled working under Steve Jobs early in his Apple career and called Cook a mentor. He added he plans to lead with the values and vision that have shaped the company.

Apple said Cook will remain with the company through the handover and that the board will be reorganized to reflect the new roles. Ternus will assume CEO responsibilities and take a seat on the board.

The announcement came alongside software updates: Apple released the third developer betas of iOS 26.5 and iPadOS 26.5, which add Suggested Places to Apple Maps and expand advertising in Maps. Apple is continuing tests of end-to-end encryption for RCS messaging after briefly enabling it in an earlier beta, and in the European Union is trialing proximity pairing, notification forwarding and Live Activities for third-party wearables to broaden compatibility with non-Apple devices.