Apple has announced that John Ternus, senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, will become Apple’s next CEO, effective on September 1, 2026. Tim Cook will step down from his current role and become executive chairman of Apple’s board of directors, marking the end of a distinguished career leading one of the world’s most beloved and valuable brands. Steve Jobs was never going to be an easy act to follow, yet Cook took Jobs’ legacy and transformed Apple into a durable, resilient financial powerhouse with explosive market cap growth. Cook ’s legacy will be defined by steady, disciplined operational stewardship: proof that a company can be more than just exciting and visionary — it can also be immensely valuable to all its stakeholders. Yet, while Cook has kept Apple’s growth trajectory moving at a steady clip, he hasn’t overseen a step-change innovation that would reset Apple’s competitive position for the next two decades, as Jobs did with the iPhone.…