After 15 years, Tim Cook will handover new Apple CEO role to John Ternus, the company’s senior vice president of hardware engineering. Starting on September 1, Ternus will lead one of the world’s most valuable companies. Ternus has worked at Apple for nearly half of his life — now 51 years old, he has been with the company for 25 years.
John Ternus is an American engineer and business executive who has served as the senior vice president of hardware engineering at Apple Inc. since 2021.
Apple announced in April 2026 that Ternus will succeed Tim Cook as CEO, effective September 1, 2026. Ternus was born in 1975 or 1976. He received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997. Ternus began his career as a mechanical engineer designing virtual reality headsets at Virtual Research Systems. He joined Apple in 2001.
