Tim Cook stepped down as Apple's chief executive on September 1 after 15 years leading the company. According to The Verge, he is succeeded by John Ternus, until now senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, in the first CEO change since 2011.
Cook took the role in August 2011, weeks before Steve Jobs's death. According to El Universal Techbit, under his tenure the company doubled revenue and profits in nine years and multiplied its market value more than 20 times. The transition comes days before Apple's next event, scheduled for September 9, where iPhone announcements are expected. For the Latin community in North America, the change matters because the iPhone and Apple's services are part of the daily technology spending of millions of families, and their price depends on a supply chain that runs through the trade dispute between the United States and China.
Cook is not leaving the company entirely: he will continue as executive chairman of the board, while Ternus takes over day-to-day operations. Under Cook's leadership came the Apple Watch, AirPods, AirTags, and Apple Vision Pro, along with services such as iCloud, Apple Pay, Apple TV, and Apple Music. The new CEO, with 25 years at Apple, takes the helm at a moment when the company faces the advance of artificial intelligence and a shortage of memory components, The Verge noted. In his farewell, Cook addressed a letter to employees in which he stated that the company demonstrates that culture triumphs above all else. The shift also reaches the old guard: Phil Schiller will leave his role leading the App Store, according to a Bloomberg report cited by The Verge.
The first public test of the Ternus era will come on September 9, when Apple presents its new iPhone generations. It will be the first time in more than a decade that a CEO other than Cook leads that event, and the market will be watching how the company responds amid the trade dispute between the United States and China.
This article was written with artificial intelligence assistance from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.