John Ternus to become Apple CEO

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John Ternus to become Apple CEO

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Comments (679)

Tyrubias
Tim Cook’s experience in logistics built Apple into the global hegemon it is today. I hope John Ternus’s experience with hardware can kick off a renaissance in both Apple hardware and software design. Mind you, Apple hardware is already amazing, but hopefully it can be even better with Ternus at the helm. Apple software is terrible, and hopefully Ternus can turn that around. I’m also hoping, without any evidence, that maybe a change in leadership will change how Apple participates in US politics.EDIT: I also want to say I really appreciate Tim Cook’s emphasis on user privacy and I hope John Ternus can continue this trend.
oofbaroomf
Wow. Hopefully, Ternus will bring what he brought to Apple's hardware to their software. The hardware is leaps and bounds ahead of anything else, but their software gets worse and worse every generation. I'm glad to hear this.
danielrhodes
I think Tim Cook took Steve Job's vision and really took it to the moon. If you think about the last 15 years, Apple has really become the biggest possible version of itself without losing its values.Tech in general has changed quite a bit though. I don't know how Steve Jobs would have reacted to AI, and I don't know where tech itself would be if Jobs were still around. But I do think the next evolution is due and yet to be seen. It's not clear that Tim Cook would be the one to effectively see that through. And so I think his timing is impeccable and probably aligned with what is best for Apple. I have a lot of respect here: time has shown that a lot of leaders don't let go until its too late.
w10-1
His letter (at the top of Apple's web site) is moving: https://www.apple.com/community-letter-from-tim/ I understand Tim is a logistics genius and Ternus is a hardware genius, and that we all want better software and policy from Apple, but I'm glad that there seems to be good people at the head of one of the biggest and most consequential companies, and further that they seem to care about being good people.As far as I can see, that's the only way to have a prayer of scaling without too much damage, which is the key issue humanity faces today.
alsetmusic
For Apple nerds that pay close attention to company, this is no surprise. Third-party dev Marco Arment wrote a blog post speaking to Ternus earlier this month[0].Marco has enough standing within our world that it's actually a clever idea to appeal to Ternus on these terms. He'll probably be aware that it was written and the appeal is somewhat generic in its call to reverse course on some Cook-era policies.We're all very hopeful but there's not enough information available on the outside to predict with any certainty how he'll lead.0. https://marco.org/2026/04/01/letter-to-john-ternus
zoogeny
I've been critical of Cook at times because I feel his vision was a business vision more than the kind of futurism I felt from Jobs. Cook was the ultimate bean counter, hyper-optimizing Apple from a financial and operational perspective. I felt like he took less risks and was mostly squeezing every single advantage that Apple had to its limit.But I cannot argue with the results the man achieved. Especially the transition to A-series and then M-series chips has been an incredible success. Perhaps the biggest flop was the Apple Vision Pro, but it is hard to really call him out on that since it wasn't that Apple lost a battle, it was that the product category just hasn't caught on (yet). Siri is another place where Apple has lagged but they could very easily catch up with the massive interest in local AI on the mac minis.I think it will be difficult to look back on his legacy without giving him a large share of credit for Apple's continued success.
tchalla
> Under Cook’s leadership Apple has grown from a market capitalization of approximately $350 billion to $4 trillion, representing a more than 1,000% increase, and yearly revenue has nearly quadrupled, from $108 billion in fiscal year 2011 to more than $416 billion in fiscal year 2025.Quite successful.
al_borland
I’m curious Ternus’ views on services and the heavy hand Cook has had with them. I’d like to see Apple chill out a bit. Have them, but stop pestering users with in-OS ads and notifications to sign up. It’s been very off putting and cheapens the platform.
tencentshill
Is the loyalty represented by the golden trophy transferrable? Or is it tied to each CEO, like Applecare+?
CarbonCycles
I commend Apple for hiring someone internally...someone who climbed up the ranks and understands the DNA of the company.Also think it's cool that John Ternus has only a bachelor's degree with a very down to earth presence. I completely dig his LI page being really bare bones.I suspect Apple is about to experience another Renaissance era...
valine
Apple silicon has been an unmitigated success so it makes sense they’d go with Ternus. On a related note Apple needs to add Ternus to their spell check dictionary
icyfox
So much of what Apple has lost over the last 10 years is a lower bar for what counts as good enough.You see this most obviously in software and marketing - the kinds of decisions where only a few people sign off at the end, and where "good enough" is whatever those few people decide it is. You see it less in hardware and procurement where there's a powerful review cycle and scrutiny at every level of the stack. Work there is more immediately measurable: benchmarks for performance, dollars for cost.The "vibe" of software, or of a PDF [^1], is much harder to catch that way. There's no benchmark that flags it and most conventional executives aren't drilling down in that level of detail to see it either.You want distributed decision-making, of course. But that only works well if it's distributed to people who've cultivated their own taste and who will make good calls under pressure. I'm not sure how much of that gets fixed by leadership change at the top. Taste isn't really something a CEO can decree into a 60,000 person org. But I've only heard good things about Ternus, so I'm optimistic. Fingers crossed for a bright new chapter.[^1]: https://www.apple.com/promo/pdf/US_FY26_Earth_Day_Promo_Tand...
ninjahawk1
Big shoes to fill. Steve Jobs vouched for Tim Cook to be CEO…then Tim has been the CEO to see Apple become a global billion dollar company. This new CEO has been at apple for like 25 years (I think) so I’m sure he’ll do fine.
mvkel
Cook is known to be monk-like, so the relative quiet of this announcement is no surprise. Hopefully Ternus takes some risks and revisits some things from scratch (the OS layer)[0] rather than continuing down the path of more service add-ons that Cook seemed to be excitedly geared up for. Personally, it's worth noting that Ternus did -not- directly oversee the Vision Pro, which is encouraging.[0] As Steve Jobs said in 2005: "OS X is the most advanced operating system on the planet and it has set Apple up for the next 20 years."How incredibly prophetic that 21 years later, MacOS is suddenly showing its age.
cocacola1
Off topic, but it’s amusing to see that 3/8 Apple CEOs were Mike, 2/8 were John, and the rest are Steve, Tim, and Gil.
comrade1234
Is this a reward for a job well-done? Because apple hardware for the last 5-years has been amazing. The software though has sucked - will it be more years of amazing hardware and shit software? In other words focusing on developers, especially of llm software? I'm fine with that. Maybe we'll get rack-mountable apple ai servers (joking - apple servers were great and lasted a decade+ but went nowhere)Yeah, what's going on? I'm confused by this choice - I would have expected a marketer. Maybe they really are doubling down on hardware for the ai age?
pzo
I hope Ternus can turn this ship. Apple wasted the last 5 years without any significant innovation/revolution or even without significant evolution. No groundbreaking change from iphone 12 pro in current iphone 17 pro.Before we had many groundbreaking features that redefined how you use smarphone:- gps- flashlight (yes everybody with flashlight in the pocket!)- front selfie camera + video calls- compass + accelerometer + gyroscope- good wide and ultrawide (video) camera- nfc + apple pay- fingerprint / faceid- esim- magsafeNow you can have iphone 12 pro and don't miss much from iphone 17 pro.
pier25
John Ternus really did turn the Mac around. The last 5 or so years of the Intel era were a disaster. Hopefully he will be able to turn things around with software too.
linzhangrun
Steve Jobs was a top-tier product manager. Apple in the Jobs era gave us groundbreaking products — he was the cake maker. Tim Cook is a top-tier supply chain master. Apple in the Cook era has moved forward steadily, making the cake bigger and bigger. Of course, criticism that it lacks innovation and has lost taste has never stopped; countless products like the iPhone SE and Mac Neo also reflect his "inventory management mastery." A lack of exploration has similarly led it, like Europe and Japan, to become increasingly isolated from new technologies. In the radically changing next 15 years, I'm very curious where Apple will go now that an engineer-origin CEO has been elevated. The only thing that's certain is: the Apple of ten years from now will be very different from the Apple we know today.
vicchenai
15 years of supply chain excellence and the software running on that hardware quietly got worse every cycle. the m1 transition was so clean it made everyone else look like they were guessing. ternus thinks in tolerances and thermal envelopes - giving the keys to someone who's already pulled off the hardest platform migration in apple's recent history seems right.
alsetmusic
I think it's interesting that the handoff will be complete on Sept 1. That would mean Ternus will helm his first iPhone launch that month. Auspicious timing. Curious the math they calculated when landing on this date. Certainly tees him up for an early win if the products are well-received.
Fanofilm
Apple needed a "AI CEO". Hopefully John Ternus is Apple's "AI CEO". That is the win-vs-lose.Apple included.
djyde
While I don't agree with many things Cook has done during his tenure, like the Touch Bar and removing the SD card slot from MacBooks, I have to admit the man knows how to make money.
t1234s
They need to move all of the iOS boatware apps bundled with macOS to the app store so people can choose to uninstall then reinstall them later.
joshstrange
Very glad to see this finally happen. It's been in the rumors for a while now that Ternus would be the next CEO but the timeline was uncertain.I'm interested to see what Ternus' first few moves are and how much he will avoid (or hopefully embrace) reversing some of the things Cook is responsible for.He has a long row to hoe when it comes to things like developer relations but from what I've heard, he is one of the best options we had for the next CEO.
dekhn
Prediction: Sundar will step aside and Demis will replace him.(actually I doubt this- Demis does not want to run a big company whose main business is Ads)
pacifi30
Thank you Tim Cook, as I am writing this on an iPhone.Is this a golden opportunity to take on the software side of Apple, native apps like photos and messages, notes app? So much good data we give to Apple apps sit their idling, there is a play here to turn them into an independent playable artifacts and shared digital human network company. My friend emma has her snack Game on! I would like to get a snack list derived from her snack data. Yes, texting works but there is no programmatic way of accessing each other’s data. I believe this data needs be freed from Apple.Apple’s privacy approach is stellar, that quest though is a prison where our data goes and does a slow death.
perfmode
Nothing but respect for Tim Cook. I feel fortunate that a company as principled as Apple on privacy and human values holds a dominant position in computing and makes quality products. I once encountered him dining alone in Palo Alto, years ago. He struck me as a humble man, someone who happens to be gifted and has put that gift to good use. A beacon of light from Alabama. I’m grateful for his efforts, and hopeful that Ternus can carry the Apple legacy forward as the baton passes to the next generation.
apple4ever
I appreciate what Cook did for the hardware, but he really failed on the software side. Too many little and annoying bugs. I look forward to Ternus improving that side while maintaining the same hardware quality.
ahmedfromtunis
When Cook took over, people expected him to fail.I don't think even Steve Jobs would've been able to imagine that Apple can get this big.
montgomery_r
There’s a lot of commentary to the effect that the Mac hardware is good, but the software is somehow terrible. Speaking as someone who first used a Mac Plus, graduated to an SE/30, and is now on a Mac mini m4 pro… I can remember when Macintosh was widely held to be an acronym for Most Applications Crash, If Not, The Operating System Hangs. The software has always been terrible, until you try the other guys’ stuff. The hardware has often been good, and is in a purple period right now. Enjoy it while it lasts! (It won’t).
ChrisMarshallNY
Sounds like a good choice. Glad to have an engineer in charge. Tim Cook is no spring chicken. I do hope Ternus maintains the focus on privacy.That focus on privacy pisses off a lot of devs (Yours Truly, included), but I sincerely believe in it. I write apps that Serve a demographic that values privacy.
aanet
Whoa, didn't expect the announcement to come so soon. Of course, the sound bytes were everywhere, but even then, this was a surprise announcement.So, the Tim Cook era lasted 15 years (2011 - 2026). He's 65yo, and he could have easily hung in there for a few more years. But I believe he's leaving at the peak -- both Apple's and his own -- and this might be the best time to leave, rather than being forced out (as many too-long-in-the-tooth CEOs have been) when the company inevitably grows slower, or has a crisis.Ternus is 50-51 yo, roughly the age when Cook himself took over Apple. There the similarities disappear. Ternus is a HW guy through-and-through. I hope he has solid SW and Design team with him. He's gonna need it, given all the big/small design snafus in the recent past. [Not including Mac Neo in there, which looks stellar by any means]Wishing him luck; he's gonna need it. (and me too, my $$$ are invested in AAPL, and I ain't selling anytime soon, so well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )
mandeepj
Some people might say Tim is leaving but he got himself promoted, just like Bezos. So, being an “Executive” chairman he’s going to be actively involved and be responsible, but not on daily basis and deep into each of verticals.Also, going over his past statements as recent as during this year, it seems like he didn’t want to leave his CEO position, so he got forced out?
nxobject
In retrospect, it seems Apple telegraphed Ternus well in advance - the NYT had an article well in January that clearly wasn't a source of friction with Apple Marketing.https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/technology/apple-ceo-tim-...
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thimabi
I don’t closely follow the news about Apple and now I’m wondering why they decided to go forward with this change at this moment.As the world undergoes increasing supply chain issues, wouldn’t it be in Apple’s best interest to keep Tim Cook as CEO for a while? Or is he the one who’s looking to transition to a less demanding position?
nntwozz
Cook will handle the politics and optics, he will remain like a king representing Apple without any true power.Ternus will be the soldier in the trenches.I feel excitement for the future of Apple.
qsz13
I just hope they can bring back the live events for the product releases.
celeryd
Apple is currently lightyears ahead in privacy compared to any other major consumer tech company, is this going to still be the case with Mr. Ternus at the helm? That's not a question meant to be answered right away, but my current mindset evaluating the change in leadership as a consumer.EDIT: Also, can Apple take over the data center already? I am sick of HP and Dell.
RaoulP
For a long time I was hoping it would be Jeff Williams. For the brief moments these heads at Apple get the spotlight, I always felt he gave off a sense of humanity and sincerity.
ourmandave
What if, right after Tim is gone, all the leaks of iPhone designs and colors stopped?I'm just askin' questions.
smeeth
I'm quite curious what Tim Cook's legacy will end up being.There is no question many of Apple's business experienced significant, impressive growth during his tenure. Amazing capital efficiency.There is also no question Apple lost product velocity. Few new products were launched, and those that were had mixed success.Tim was, at the end of the day, an elite financial operator. Apple shareholders were lucky to have him. Customers like myself probably have mixed opinions, and it remains to be seen how he set the company up for the future.
jsemrau
He is proof that LinkedIn doesn't matter.
cobckm
Tim has done an amazing job in the post-Jobs era with his logistics. Brought Apple from $350B to $4T. This move makes perfect sense as Apple needs to start their next chapter with how rapid the world is changing at the moment. I do hope Apple's values don't change going into this new era.
richardatlarge
Like Sam Altman, Tim Cook makes me think that what we fear in AI is already here. These two guys are corporate robots that act only in the service of the bottom line.
instagraham
I get that this year's iPhone will be marketed as the first under Ternus's overall leadership, but truthfully, we can expect next year's to have more of his mark, since I imagine most of the details for the iPhone 18 have long been done, dusted and set into motion.
detectivestory
And John Ternus will be CEO
dlahoda
they replacing person doing horizontal scalability with vertical.do they predict problems of some sort - like lost of ability to small down transistors for a while or supply chain disruption(increased prices of components sourcing)?
Austin_Conlon
Wonder to what extent Craig Federighi was considered and what the decision-making factors were there.
ykl
I'm really hopeful about John Ternus stepping into the CEO role. Pretty much everything he's done leading Apple's hardware engineering has been an enormous unqualified success, and for a company like Apple, having hardware lead the company seems like the right step.
adrianwaj
Any chance of a future where hardware can be customized at the design stage, like 3D printing but taken to an even higher level, even for 1-off builds? So prompt-driven manufacturing? For example, a watch with a USB-C port?One day that watch could be your only PC. And then some type of eyeglass for a screen. Can also do "terrain overlays" Terminator style. I suppose battery power is the bottleneck so maybe long-distance wireless power delivery is the key (as what Tesla originally created.) So no battery at all.
6thbit
So John gets to announce the Fold comes september
oidar
situations like this should allow for relaxing the title rules to "unbury" the lede.
zeristor
How long to the next ATP podcast?
Kuyawa
Mister Ternus, please create an Apple TV.It will redefine the way we watch TV and that's exactly your job, to make something truly unique. And I'll tell you the secret sauce, the remote. I know you'll come up with something totally different, a marvel of engineering that will drop jaws around the world. Different aluminum colors and extra flat? Check. But that's not what this new generation needs. They want to watch tiktok and instagram in their TV and nobody right now offers an out-of-this-world experience. Social media consumption on a big screen. Excel at that and you will sell millions at whatever price you set.My credit card is ready...
cooper_ganglia
John Ternus is the perfect choice. I expected Craig, and that would've been great, but Ternus is going to really be something special in that role!
Aboutplants
Apple hardware has been a shining light for Apple for the past 5-10 years, even if a bit lucky. I’m curious how this effects the company as a whole going forward, hopefully positive
nixpulvis
Apple is good at hardware, they need help with software. I hope putting a hardware guy in charge can still improve this situation.
laughing_mann
Please, do not make the products any thicker!
bofia
This would not be on The Successor
butterlesstoast
Anyone else notice the header text gets cut off on mobile? On an iPhone 17 no less...
ozmaverick72
Can not believe no one has asked the obvious question - is his nickname Tina ?
sultanofsaltin
Pretty simple hot take:This period in Apple’s history will be the cold ice bath post Jobs.There may be serious fanboy energy to this but Apple has so much dry powder going for it still, and to put that in the hands of someone who actually builds, along with what looks to be a strong rumor mill year with VR stuff and the foldable to create a big tailwind… it seems like a pretty intentional move.Also if they dropped one more subscription on us before expanding categories they might’ve caused an avalanche in lack of confidence.Cook did an excellent job of raking in cash for bet the company size bets that he wouldn’t be guaranteed to see through. The dude is clearly a salt of the earth, values guy, should enjoy a proper retirement era.
doctoboggan
I know the rumors were swirling for the past few months, but just 4 more months of Cook seems like pretty short notice, no?
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mabedan
If Johny Ive stayed, he could have become CEO... Now he has to design Ferrari dashboards and AI Pins
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nelox
China is effectively run by engineers, so that is a good hedge for Apple.
sacrosaunt
About time. Hopefully we can see some meaningful hardware improvements in the coming years.
sva_
I believe his name is Tim Apple
didip
wow… I didn’t expect this. My guess would have been after the current administration.Why so soon?
shmerl
Will it change Apple's extreme bend into lock-in for the better?
hamasho
It's exciting to see that the new CEO of Apple is a hardware guy.I was just thinking about what had been avoiding enshittification, and Apple's hardware was the only thing I came up. All other stuff, all products from Google, MS, Facebook, Twitter, and even Nvidia though the performance was improved has gone downhill. It's not only tech companies, but fast food, car manufacturers, real estate, and many others, if it wasn't shit from the start like consulting, healthcare, and marketing.They have flaws, like not allowing users to repair the hardware, but well, at least it's consistent.I really hope Apple (hardware at least) will remain free from enshittification.
Trung0246
Maybe Mac Mini M5 this year?
yalogin
Wonder how much of this decision has to do with the current climate and not wanting to deal with the current head. I was quite disappointed to see cook towing the line and bending the knee, let’s see what Ternus will do
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dzonga
Tim Cook will be one of the legendary CEOs in history.he knows when to be conservative - and knows when to push hard.qualities very few CEOs have shown to have in practice.all his contemporary competitors have ridden on certain waves e.g A.I to increase company valuation - while he did sorely on just pure operations not hype.
neuralkoi
I hope they will turn Siri around with these changes.
pupppet
Anyone know why?Tim gifted Donald a trophy 8 months ago doing his legacy no favors. You wouldn't do this if you knew you were on your way out. Makes me wonder if something happened between August 2025 and now.
bilsbie
Will this change their AI strategy (or lack of)
bilsbie
Do.you.think.he’ll.fix.the.usability.issues?
djyde
I always thought Craig would become CEO.
t0lo
RIP Tim, the best derivative by the book uninspired machine to ever do it.
gigatexal
Yeah glad to see a hardware person take the helm and not a bean counter. The hardware is masterful now. Let’s keep it that way. Wonder if he kills the Vision Pro.
SirMaster
Why is the photo so blurry?
visviva
Suggest changing the title to include both parts, if they fit: "Tim Cook to become Apple Executive Chairman, John Ternus to become Apple CEO"
greatgib
Sad to see Tim Cook leaving as I was enjoying this downtrend of Apple products that is driving users to more open (and better) solutions like Linux PCs. I cross fingers for John Ternus to still be greedy and not being too competent.
RyanZhuuuu
can't believe craige is not the ceo
tastyface
Good riddance to an effective CEO whose entire legacy will be tarnished by a giant, gold-plated asterisk.
MPSimmons
So, John Apple?
nodesocket
I wish Apple would lean into gaming and create a competitive GPU system. Does not have to compete with a 5090, but 5070 level and game developers will come and port games. Huge untapped market. I still have to run a dedicated gaming PC just to play games (especially Flight Simulator).
cubefox
The NYT was right: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/technology/apple-ceo-tim-...
segmondy
Tim saw the ram shortage and said, "WTF am I suppose to do with this? I'm out of here!" Better leave a hero ...
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iamakrt
Maybe MAC mini M5
quaddoggy
Surprised that someone from Gen X is getting the opportunity to lead a company of this caliber. We've spent most of our adult lives getting smothered by Boomers and Millennials.Thanks for making all that money, Tim. Now please retire. Please.
tmp10423288442
@dang can we fix this to mention John Ternus becoming CEO
kmeisthax
My personal hope for John Ternus is that he relaxes some of Apple's anti-competitive bullshit to the point where the company is willing to make iPads actually useful for anything other than 2D drawing apps. As someone who has been daily-driving an M1 iPad Pro for five years, the iPad is the most glaring hole in Apple's lineup in terms of usefulness.Yes, I get that the iPad is supposed to be a "casual computing device" or whatever. Yes, I know Apple has delivered significant improvements to iPadOS's capabilities in those five years. But using it still feels like wearing a straitjacket a lot of the time.
tamimio
I have to admit, regardless of whatever opinions you may have on Apple, Tim is/was probably the best bug tech CEO in the sea of evil ones out there, or evil and grifters, he remained focused on what’s the best might be for the users and also the company.
xyst
At least John has an engineering background, been with company for couple decades and not some private equity/hedge fund/wannabe Steve Jobs visionary douchebag.Personally, I have lost all interest in Apple and been slowly switching off their hw/sw/saas for some time.
dcchambers
"Tim Cook to become Apple Executive Chairman"*John Ternus to become Apple CEO*Talk about burying the lede, lmao.
simonebrunozzi
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commandersaki
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doener
[flagged]
gopheryourshelf
Apple's headquarters The Ring made under Tim Cook represents what Apple today is . Kissing the Ring of Trump
nalekberov
If Apple really wants to keep their long term users in its ecosystem, it should really drop stupid Liquid glass design, stop making macOS look like its mobile OSs, and bring skeuomorphism back, which was removed by John Ive.
nateb2022
$AAPL down almost 1% after-market on this news
alanwreath
It’s not novel to critique or idolize anyone, especially given the roll undergoing the changing of the guard. It’s not like hundreds of managers are changing.They are all still there.But here’s to hoping that change comes. Apple is already a rich company. But isn’t that boring?