John Ternus takes over as Apple CEO as Tim Cook becomes executive chairman

John Ternus officially became Apple's chief executive on September 1, 2026, completing a transition that the company announced in April. Tim Cook moved to executive chairman. Reports say he stayed on as CEO through the summer to work alongside Ternus, and that his new role includes engagement with policymakers around the world, particularly in China and Washington.

Arthur Levinson, who had been chairman for 15 years, became lead independent director. Ternus also joined Apple's board.

Ternus was born in 1975, studied mechanical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and joined Apple's product design team in 2001. He became senior vice president of hardware engineering in 2021. TBreak notes that his career has been product-centred and that he has not run finance, sales, legal, government relations or procurement.

The report also lists a number of other changes around the top team during 2026. Johny Srouji took the chief hardware officer title in April, and Phil Schiller stepped back from the App Store and product events in late August. The article also states that John Giannandrea left his AI role and that Amar Subramanya joined as a vice president of AI under Craig Federighi, and that Jennifer Bailey, who leads Apple Pay, is due to retire in October. We have only seen these details in this one report, so treat them accordingly.