US EditionIs Tim Cook Preparing to Leave Apple? Who Could Succeed the Tech CEO?
John Ternus, Apple’s senior hardware executive, is the leading CEO successor as Tim Cook nears retirement, amid major executive departures and challenges in AI and mixed reality.
- On 07 October 2025 in Cupertino, John Ternus leads all hardware engineering at Apple and is widely viewed as the top internal candidate to succeed CEO Tim Cook.
- This succession focus follows Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams stepping down from operational duties in July and planning to leave the company by year's end.
- Ternus, who started at Apple as a mechanical engineer in 2001, rose to senior vice president in 2021 and has been responsible for leading the hardware teams behind the iPhone, Mac, iPad, and AirPods.
- During his time at Apple, John has led hardware engineering for key innovations such as every iPad model, the most recent iPhones, and AirPods.
- As Tim Cook nears his 65th birthday and several key executives depart, Apple is undergoing its most substantial leadership reshuffle in over a decade, with John Ternus now playing a pivotal role in the company’s succession strategy.
22 Articles
22 Articles
Meet John Ternus, the 50-year-old Apple executive and former swimming champ who's rumored to succeed Tim Cook as CEO
Apple is quietly orchestrating its most significant leadership transition in more than a decade, and at the center of succession planning sits John Ternus, the company’s 50-year-old senior vice president of hardware engineering. As Tim Cook approaches his 65th birthday next month, industry observers and Apple insiders increasingly view Ternus as the most likely candidate to inherit the reins of one of the world’s most valuable technology compani…
Apple is facing a change of leadership: Who will be CEO when Tim Cook resigns? An overview of the potential successors.
Is Tim Cook preparing to leave Apple? Who could succeed the tech CEO?
Bloomberg has reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook, 63, is likely to step down within the next few years, possibly after launching a 'major new product category'. Senior executives such as Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams, Senior Vice President John Ternus, and software head Craig Federighi are viewed as potential successors
Tim Cook, who has been at the helm of Apple since 2011, is preparing to step down as CEO. Meanwhile, serious discussions are underway regarding his successor.
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