John Ternus became Apple’s CEO on September 1, 2026, and sent his first memo to employees the same morning, thanking outgoing CEO Tim Cook and teasing a major product launch scheduled for the following week.
In the memo, Ternus praised Cook’s leadership style directly: “We’re so lucky to have had a CEO who led with his values and with such decency and humanity.”
Cook transitions to the role of Executive Chair, meaning he remains involved with the company rather than departing entirely.
On his final day as CEO, Cook told employees he took “enormous comfort” in handing Apple’s leadership to “someone as brilliant and wonderful and capable as John.”
Ternus kept the memo brief, closing with a pointed tease: “We have a huge launch next week that’s going to be phenomenal.”
That event, scheduled for September 9 and dubbed “Surprise and Shine,” will be his first as Apple’s CEO. Apple’s marketing chief, Greg Joswiak, separately confirmed that the company has “more to say” that day, starting at 10 a.m. Pacific Time.
A product-focused leader takes over
Ternus joined Apple in 2001 and spent much of his career in hardware engineering, eventually serving as Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering before stepping into the top role.
His background stands in contrast to Cook’s, whose strengths were rooted in operations and supply chain management. At 51, Ternus could realistically lead Apple for well over a decade.
The leadership transition has already prompted several organizational changes. Johny Srouji, previously known for leading Apple Silicon development, has been named Chief Hardware Officer, taking over the Hardware Engineering team Ternus formerly ran.
Laura Legros, a retired veteran engineering vice president, is returning to Apple as part of the restructured leadership.
Apple’s product design team has also been reorganized, though the full scope of those changes will likely become clearer over the coming years.
What comes after the September 9 event
Beyond next week’s launch, Ternus indicated in his memo that Apple has more in development. “I’m just as excited about what lies beyond that, including the incredible products already in the works and the ones we haven’t even imagined yet that we’ll dream up and create together,” he wrote.
The September 9 event is widely expected to center on the iPhone 18 lineup. It will mark Ternus’s first time presenting as Apple’s chief executive, a role he has been building toward since joining the company more than two decades ago.
