Apple CEO Tim Cook is departing the helm of one of the world’s largest technology companies after a 15-year tenure, during which the firm became the first publicly traded U.S. company to achieve a $1 trillion market cap and reach numerous other historic milestones.
He declared in April that he would relinquish the CEO role at the end of August, though he will remain with the company as executive chairman. John Ternus, Apple’s most recent senior vice president of hardware engineering, has been named as his successor.
Cook assumed the CEO position in August 2011 after co-founder Steve Jobs resigned just weeks before his passing. Jobs had first encountered Cook in 1998 and convinced him to join the company that same year, where he began his career as senior vice president of worldwide operations.
“As you know, I am not leaving Apple. But I am stepping away from a role that I have loved deeply,” Cook stated in a memo to all employees on his final day. “I will miss this work in ways I can only begin to imagine, even as I remain completely at peace with my decision.”
Apple recently posted a record June quarter as iPhone sales surged, with Cook offering insights on artificial intelligence and the Chinese market.
Apple CEO Tim Cook is stepping down from the role on Monday, Aug. 31, after leading the company to historic milestones during his tenure at the helm. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“Together, we have created something far greater than any one of us could have imagined or accomplished alone. And that’s the secret to our success. We bring out the best in each other. We lift each other up,” Cook remarked.
“We have made it possible to leave our ‘dent in the universe,’ as Steve once described it, because of who we are and what we believe, because of what we value and how we see the world,” he added.
Cook’s time at Apple saw the tech giant expand into new product and service categories, cultivating a broader consumer technology ecosystem built around the MacBook, iPhone, and iPad.
The transition marks a major leadership shakeup, with the company naming its successor.
Tim Cook served 15 years as Apple CEO and will remain as the company’s executive chairman. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
In 2014, Cook and the company introduced the Apple Watch, marking the tech giant’s entry into the wearable health technology market, while also launching Apple Pay to compete in mobile payments.
The following year, Apple Music signaled the company’s shift from iTunes to a subscription-based streaming model, and 2016 brought the debut of AirPods, which significantly accelerated the growth of the wearables division. The company further broadened its service offerings by launching Apple TV+ and Apple Card in 2019.
Apple also achieved several major corporate milestones under Cook’s leadership, becoming the first U.S.-based publicly traded company to reach $1 trillion in market capitalization in 2018.
The company subsequently hit the $2 trillion milestone in 2020, surpassed the $3 trillion market value for the first time during intraday trading in 2022, and crossed the $4 trillion threshold in October 2025. It briefly overtook Nvidia for the largest market cap in July 2026.
John Ternus, set to succeed Tim Cook as Apple’s CEO, brings a distinguished background in hardware engineering to the role.
Over the years, Apple has competed with ExxonMobil, Nvidia, and Microsoft for the title of the most valuable publicly traded U.S. company, with the top position frequently shifting among these tech titans. Apple held the number one spot for much of the 2013 to 2018 period.
Currently, Apple boasts a market cap of roughly $4.6 trillion, ranking behind Nvidia’s $5.25 trillion valuation while surpassing Microsoft’s $3.79 trillion valuation.
Apple is preparing to host its first major event under new CEO John Ternus next week on September 9, where it will unveil its newest iPhone and potentially reveal the highly anticipated foldable iPhone.
Cook noted in his letter that he takes “enormous comfort in handing the helm to someone as brilliant and wonderful and capable as John,” adding that few people “understand what it takes to build products that change the world the way John does, and I could not be more excited for his leadership.”
A Reuters report indicated that analysts expect Apple to launch a foldable iPhone, entering a new segment of the smartphone market to compete with Samsung in the growing device sector.
