Tim Cook is stepping down as Apple CEO, company announces

Apple announced that Tim Cook will step down as CEO and John Ternus, senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, will take his place in an April 20 news release.

Cook will remain CEO until Sept. 1, when Ternus takes over, according to the release. The company called the change in leadership the result of "a thoughtful, long-term succession planning process."

He will become the executive chairman of the company's board of directors when the change, which received unanimous approval from Apple's board, takes place.

"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 the release.

Cook became CEO of the tech giant in 2011 and oversaw the growth of the company into a multibillion-dollar stalwart with forays into wearable tech and artificial intelligence.

Ternus, who joined Apple in 2001, has recently overseen the company's hardware engineering efforts and has played a key role in reigniting sales of products such as Apple's Mac computers, which have gained market share in recent years. Cook described Ternus as having "the mind of an engineer" and "the soul of an innovator."

"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," Ternus said in the release. "I promise to lead with the values and vision that have come to define this special place for half a century."

Cook's departure is a surprise

Though many on Wall Street figured Ternus would eventually succeed Cook as CEO, the timing of the announcement was a surprise, analysts said.

Just last month, Cook denied rumors on "Good Morning America" that he planned to retire. “No, I didn’t say that," he said. "I haven’t said that. I love what I do deeply. Twenty-eight years ago, I walked into Apple, and I’ve loved every day of it since.”

The announcement also comes before Apple's quarterly earnings report on Thursday, April 30, which could make that report more closely watched than usual, some analysts said.

"The timing of Cook exiting stage left as CEO could make sense but also creates questions," wrote Dan Ives, global head of tech research at Wedbush, on X. "Apple is making a major transition on its AI strategy and longtime CEO and legendary Cook leaving now is a surprise."

Apple's AI struggles

As Apple turned 50 this year, it has struggled to show it can remain a technology powerhouse in the age of artificial intelligence, as software rivals Alphabet and Microsoft spend tens of billions of dollars to seize a lead.

At the end of 2025, Apple's artificial intelligence chief John Giannandrea abruptly left the company.

Instead of developing its own in-house AI models, Apple recently turned to Google's Gemini to power Apple's models. Apple also said that Google's artificial intelligence would "help power future Apple Intelligence features," including a more personalized Siri. Apple had earlier delayed AI improvements to Siri several times.

However, given Ternus' background in hardware engineering, some Apple watchers speculated that the move was less of an AI play and more of a move to get back to developing great Apple products.

"Tim Cook absolutely knocked it out of the park with supply chain diversification, custom silicon development with M series chips etc, but the old Apple magic of creating groundbreaking hardware products needs to come back," one Reddit poster wrote. "Hope the new guy focuses on creating new, great hardware like old times. There could be a generational opportunity for creating new consumer hardware for the AI era and Apple may shape it like they defined the smartphone market with the iPhone."

Cook's legacy

Whatever Ternus will focus on, he will have big shoes to fill. Under Cook's 15 years at the top, Apple's market cap increased by more than 1,000% to around $4 trillion, only behind chip giant Nvidia.

The company expanded its global footprint, particularly in emerging markets, and is now in more than 200 countries and territories. Apple's annual revenue has nearly quadrupled to more than $416 billion in fiscal year 2025 from $108 billion in fiscal year 2011, when Cook took over as CEO from co-founder Steve Jobs.

This story was updated to add new information.

Contributing: Reuters