John Ternus to take over as Apple CEO from Tim Cook on September 1

Apple is set for a major leadership transition as John Ternus takes over as the companyrsquos chief executive officer from Tim Cook on September 1 2026 John Ternusrsquos appointment as the new Apple chief will mark a new chapter for the technology giant with artificial intelligence expected to be among his top prioritiesOne of his biggest challenges for John as he takes the leadership role will be balancing the companys dependence on China while parrying acute political pressure from the White House as per AFPThe handover ends Tim Cooks 15year run replacing the operations specialist who built Apples supply chain with the engineer who built its hardware Ternus 51 joined Apples design team in 2001 and worked his way up to senior vice president of hardware engineering reporting to Tim CookHe leads the engineering teams behind Apples entire product lineup including the iPhones that generate most of the companys revenueHe gets barely a week to settle in with Apple holding its annual iPhone event on September 9 where it is expected to unveil its first foldable handsetDan Ives partner and senior managing director at investment firm Yorkville Ives amp Co said Tim Cook left the house in phenomenal order but now its about Ternus defining the AI chapter as cited by AFPIven further said Theres no reason to fix whats already working predicting Ternus will concentrate on hardware innovation while leaving Cooks supply chain intactrdquoSome analysts had argued software chief Craig Federighi was the more logical pick for a company scrambling to catch up on AI Carolina Milanesi an analyst at Creative Strategies said that misreads how consumers actually adopt technologyShe further highlighted Consumers are still buying hardware first and its going to be like that for a long time she said Youre not going to discover the value of AI if youre not interested in the hardware as per AFPWho is John TernusJohn Ternus earned a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and worked as an engineer at Virtual Research Systems before joining AppleInside the company he is credited with driving a push to make products more durable reliable and resilient and with design work that cut their carbon footprintMajor challenge for TernusNowhere is that gap wider than in the geopolitical role Cook excelled at courting both Beijing and Donald Trumps White House to protect a supply chain that runs largely through China Apples manufacturing operation is among the most complex in corporate history a web of hundreds of suppliers and assembly lines that Cook painstakingly built over decades as per AFPTim Cook in recent years began shifting some of the work elsewhere iPhone assembly to India other production to Vietnam but the diversification has been gradual with China one of Apples biggest consumer markets still anchoring the systemComplicating matters Trump has repeatedly demanded Apple build iPhones on American soil threatening tariffs on those made overseasCook avoided the heaviest blows of Trumps trade war by cultivating the president directly making US investment commitments and political donationsmdashall while also keeping Beijing on side as per AFPTricky political turns might challenge TernusIves said He knows Apple Park like the back of his pocket in terms of hardware Ives said of Ternus But on the global stagemdashthats probably one of the biggest areas where hes going to have to learn on the jobCook is not going far He becomes executive chairman of Apples board on the same day with a mandate the company has said includes engaging policymakers around the world That was really clever said Milanesi arguing the arrangement frees Ternus from a role Cook has handled alone for yearsWith inputs from AFP