Apple is shaking to its core! Tim Cook is reportedly leaving soon, with new blood taking the helm

After fourteen years at the helm of the world’s most valuable technology company, a change is imminent. Tim Cook, who took over Apple after Steve Jobs in 2011, could step down as CEO as early as 2026. According to information from the Financial Times, Apple has significantly accelerated preparations for a leadership change in recent months.

Who is John Ternus and why him?

The most likely successor is John Ternus, who has been with the company since 2001. He currently leads Apple’s entire hardware engineering as senior vice president and has contributed to most key products of the last two decades. For example, he introduced new products such as the iPhone Air or the latest generation of MacBooks during keynotes.

Ternus is 50 years old, which is an interesting parallel – Tim Cook was the same age when he took over from Jobs. Among Apple’s younger executives, he is considered a promising personality and, according to Financial Times sources, is internally seen as the clear favorite. However, the company has not yet made any final decision, and the timing of the announcement may change.

The Tim Cook Era: Trillions of Dollars and Many Compromises

Cook took over Apple during a difficult time, shortly after the death of founder Steve Jobs. Skeptics then doubted whether a logistics expert could maintain the company’s creative spirit. In terms of numbers, however, Cook succeeded beyond expectations: Apple’s market capitalization grew from 350 billion dollars to over 4 trillion dollars. Apple became the first company to surpass the 1 trillion (2018), then 3 trillion (2022), and recently 4 trillion mark.

Under Cook’s leadership, Apple became a profit-generating machine. But this is where we encounter a paradox: while stocks rise and dividends flow, innovation stagnated. The last revolutionary product – the iPhone – originated under Jobs. Since then, Apple has essentially just iterated: better chips, better cameras, thinner bodies. AirPods are great, but groundbreaking? That could rather be said about the Apple Watch, which have excellent sales and are among the best smartwatches on the market.

Cook’s greatest success ultimately became, without a doubt, the M-series chips for MacBooks. The transition to ARM architecture was risky but paid off. MacBooks with M1 and newer processors are completely different in terms of performance and energy efficiency than the established x86 platform. This, however, is actually a confirmation of Cook’s role: he excelled in optimizing the supply chain and technical execution, not in a vision for the future.

Artificial Intelligence as an Achilles’ Heel

The biggest criticism of Cook concerns lagging in the field of artificial intelligence. While Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta are investing tens of billions in AI infrastructure and their own models, Apple remains behind. The originally planned AI version of Siri for 2025? Delayed until at least 2026.

Apple is even considering using models from OpenAI or Anthropic for an improved Siri instead of its own technology. For a company that prides itself on controlling its entire ecosystem, this is a rather humiliating admission. Add to that the departure of key AI experts – for example, Ruoming Pang, head of the foundation models team, reportedly left for Meta for 200 million dollars.

And then there’s Vision Pro. The augmented reality headset for 100 thousand crowns was a technological marvel but a commercial flop. High price, limited content, and unclear use led to Vision Pro not yet becoming a mainstream product. Apple, however, presented it as the next big thing after the iPhone.

Bloomberg: No Rush

Not everyone, however, believes the Financial Times report. Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, who has strong sources within Apple, wrote on Friday that while Ternus is indeed the main candidate, the timing is not as urgent as FT claims. “I don’t feel like anything is imminent,” Gurman stated.

According to Financial Times sources, the announcement should not come before the January earnings report, which will cover the critical Christmas period. If Apple were to announce a new CEO early next year, it would give him time to settle in before the WWDC developer conference in June and before the September premiere of new iPhones.

Leaving at the Peak? Or Fleeing the Storm?

Cook celebrated his 65th birthday this year, which is a common retirement age in the USA. It is emphasized that his potential departure is not related to the company’s performance – Apple is expecting a record quarter, and its shares are trading near historical highs. That’s fair. But it’s not hard to imagine that Cook perceives what awaits him.

Apple faces several challenges: it must catch up on AI, resolve its dependence on Chinese manufacturing amidst trade tensions, confront EU regulations (which attack its closed ecosystem), and most importantly – come up with something truly new. A foldable iPhone? iPad? Car?

If Cook leaves next year, he will hand over the reins at a time when the company is making a fortune, but losing its innovation momentum. This is smart timing for him, but potentially a difficult situation for Ternus. The new CEO will have to prove that Apple can do more than just iterate on the successes of the Jobs era.

Do you believe John Ternus can bring Apple back to innovation?

Source: Financial Times, 9to5mac