What is Happening to Apple?

Tim Cook has officially resigned from the CEO of Apple. He will remain as the CEO for the summer, officially stepping down on September 1st, 2026. Don't worry, he will still be the Executive Chairman of Apple's Board of Directors, focusing on a more global policy than devices. John Ternus will replace him.

But first, let's not forget what Tim Cook has done in his fifteen-year long career at Apple. He took the company from $350 billion in market value, to over $4 trillion in market share. He was there for the launch of the Apple Watch, Apple AirPods, the Vision Pro, pioneered the famous Apple Silicon, and built massive applications, like iCloud, with so much more too. Tim Cook, although may not be known as notable and risk-taking in the past couple of years with the stagnant iPhone design and the Vision Pro, Apple wouldn't be close to what it would be without Cook's help.

The next CEO, John Ternus, has also been pivotal for the growth of Apple. He currently leads all hardware engineering, including the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple Vision Pro, AirPods, and so much more. He holds a bachelor's degree from UPenn for Mechanical Engineering and worked as one at Virtual Research Systems. According to Zoe Kleinman who works at the BBC and interviewed Ternus, she found Ternus "polite, friendly, and everything he told me was perfectly delivered", which is necessary for someone who works at a job where you keynote every year. He is known as a product guy, meaning that he's hands-on with his team, similar to Tim Cook before he was CEO.

Ternus will have to do something drastic to take control of the company and show he is the true man of the job. He can really capitalize on AI development at Apple, because as of late, they have been falling behind in the competition. There's an expectation, coming into the CEO, that Ternus will be forced to act on this. With Apple relying on Google Gemini's technology to assist Siri and power future Artificial Intelligence at Apple, there is so much he needs to do, just with AI.

There is another thing to consider with Ternus, of course. He has to manage to bond with a notoriously delicate president - President Trump. Cook has not shared much outside of his social life, being known as someone who is "perfectly neutral" in politics. On Tuesday, Donald Trump praised Cook, saying that "Tim Cook is an incredible guy!!!" at the end of his long rant.

So, with Cook out and Ternus promoted, how will Ternus turn out in the future? With rising AI problems and presidential disputes, Ternus will need to watch out and keep Apple growing, just how Cook did.