Can John Ternus Fill Tim Cook’s Shoes As Apple’s New CEO? Analysts Weigh The Challenges Ahead In First Test

CUPERTINO, Calif. — John Ternus officially took over as Apple’s chief executive on Sept. 1, ending Tim Cook’s 15-year tenure atop the world’s most valuable technology company, and now faces an immediate test of his leadership just days into the job as Apple prepares to unveil its latest iPhone lineup, including the company’s first foldable device.

Ternus, 50, joined Apple’s product design team in 2001 and spent the past 25 years working almost exclusively in hardware engineering, rising to vice president of hardware engineering in 2013 before being promoted to senior vice president in 2021, the role from which he now moves into the CEO position. He was formally named to Apple’s board of directors effective Sept. 1, the same day the leadership transition took effect.

Cook, who succeeded Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 2011, will remain with the company as executive chairman following the transition. Under his leadership, Apple’s market value grew from roughly $350 billion to as much as $4.6 trillion, driven largely by the enduring commercial success of the iPhone. Apple’s board announced the succession plan in April, with non-executive chairman Arthur Levinson praising Cook’s tenure while expressing confidence in his successor.

“Tim’s unprecedented and outstanding leadership has transformed Apple into the world’s best company,” Levinson said at the time. “We believe John is the best possible leader to succeed Tim and as he transitions to CEO we know his love of Apple, his leadership, deep technical knowledge, and relentless focus on creating great products will help lead Apple to an extraordinary future.”

Ternus inherits the company at what analysts describe as a genuinely pivotal moment, one shaped by mounting competitive pressure in artificial intelligence, ongoing questions about Apple’s manufacturing dependence on China, and a services division that, while still generating substantial revenue, recently missed Wall Street’s expectations.

Babak Hafezi, a professor of international business at American University, told Al Jazeera that Ternus’s background signals a deliberate strategic emphasis heading into the new era.

“The appointment of Ternus is Apple’s subtle way of doubling down on hardware innovation as a core strategy,” Hafezi said. “It doesn’t refute the Tim Cook era; it marks a new stage in Apple’s history by intertwining AI with hardware, rather than treating AI as a standalone product.”

Ternus faces his first major public test just over a week into the job, when Apple unveils its newest iPhone lineup on Sept. 9, an event expected to include the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and Apple’s first foldable device. Unlike in past years, when Cook typically led such presentations, Ternus is expected to take the stage himself to introduce Apple’s newest hardware, marking his public debut in the role in front of both the media and Apple’s global customer base.

Some industry watchers have drawn parallels between the pressure now facing Ternus and the skepticism Cook himself encountered when he first took over from Jobs in 2011, a moment when many analysts publicly questioned whether Apple could sustain its success without its co-founder at the helm. Tim Bajarin, a longtime technology analyst, framed the central question now facing Ternus in similarly high-stakes terms.

“The next question really is, what’s Ternus gonna do?” Bajarin said. “The fact that he is a product guy and has product ideas makes us hopeful that we may see even new breakthrough products.”

Jane Edison Stevenson, global vice chair of executive search firm Korn Ferry, said Apple’s decision to keep Cook closely involved as executive chairman reflects a deliberate effort to reassure investors and employees during the transition, though she cautioned that approach carries its own risks.

“They are looking to signal there’s continuity, that there’s a continued strategic continuum that’s being followed, and that there’s a bit of a failsafe,” Stevenson said. She added that an extended or loosely defined transition period “can make it more challenging for the new leader to take hold with the freedom to make independent decisions.”

Among the specific challenges Ternus inherits is Apple’s services business, which includes the App Store, Apple Music, iCloud and Apple Pay and has become an increasingly important growth driver under Cook. The unit generated $30.7 billion in revenue during its most recent quarter, up 12% year over year and a record for that period, but still came in below the $31.22 billion analysts had projected. Apple senior vice president Eddy Cue has previously acknowledged, in testimony during one of Google’s antitrust trials, that AI could eventually reshape consumer reliance on hardware like the iPhone altogether.

“You may not need an iPhone 10 years from now, as crazy as it sounds,” Cue said at the time, underscoring the scale of disruption Apple’s leadership believes artificial intelligence could bring to the company’s core business over the coming decade.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding the transition, some market analysts have pushed back against the idea that a change in CEO alone should trigger significant investor caution. CNBC’s Jim Cramer, discussing the leadership change during an August investor meeting, expressed continued confidence in Apple’s underlying business even while acknowledging his own personal attachment to Cook’s leadership.

“I think that’s wrong,” Cramer said, addressing speculation that Apple’s stock could face downgrades or a selloff tied to the transition. “Apple’s fundamentals are incredible, so we say stay the course.” Cramer added that his “fondness for Tim Cook is so great that it will be difficult for me to be as confident with a new CEO,” while stressing that he was not prejudging Ternus’s performance before giving him a chance to lead.

Cook is also expected to continue playing a behind-the-scenes role in maintaining Apple’s relationship with the Trump administration even after stepping back from day-to-day CEO responsibilities, a task some analysts view as an additional layer of institutional continuity supporting Ternus during his early tenure.

Whether Ternus can successfully build on Cook’s legacy while charting Apple’s own path through the current artificial intelligence race remains an open question that will likely take months or years, rather than a single product launch, to answer definitively. For now, the Sept. 9 event stands as Ternus’s first major public opportunity to demonstrate the kind of product-driven leadership his supporters within Apple and across the analyst community have said could define his tenure, even as broader structural questions about Apple’s AI strategy, manufacturing footprint and services growth continue to loom over the company’s next chapter.