Cook is turning 65 next month. Chief operating officer John Williams — once heir apparent — has handed over the reins of day-to-day operations to Sabih Khan and is on his way out.
Even as Cook steps down as CEO, he will stay involved in some capacity, likely as board chairman, Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman wrote in his Power On newsletter, much like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Oracle’s Larry Ellison, Microsoft’s Bill Gates, and Netflix’s Reed Hastings. This continuity will be critical in navigating Donald Trump’s presidency through 2029, Gurman added.
While Khan and Apple’s retail chief Deirdre O’Brien can run daily operations, Ternus remains the leading contender for the corner office after Cook, Gurman said. Firstly, he is 50 years old — the same as Cook when he became CEO — giving him over a decade to hold the office, he noted.
Secondly, Apple needs a technologist instead of a sales person at the helm, considering the company’s ambitions, Gurman wrote in the newsletter. While the Cupertino tech giant has managed to expand its homegrown line of chipsets, and the recently launched iPhone 17 lineup is drawing in customers, the company has struggled to find success in categories such as mixed reality, generative artificial intelligence (AI), smart homes and autonomous driving.
Ternus was in the spotlight during Apple’s annual hardware event in September, which saw the launch of the iPhone 17 Air, the first major design overhaul for the smartphone family in a long time. Over the years, he has gained more responsibilities under Cook, taking calls on product roadmaps, features and strategies, overseeing matters beyond the traditional scope of a hardware engineering chief, Gurman said.
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More executive exits
Apart from Cook, Apple could see a broad change of guard, which began with COO Williams bowing out, Gurman wrote. Apple’s AI chief John Giannandrea could be one, following the patchy rollout of Apple Intelligence and a botched overhaul of Siri.
While Mike Rockwell, who has been tasked with fixing the voice assistant, was once a potential successor, Apple might now be looking at a senior AI executive from Meta to take Giannandrea’s place, Gurman wrote. Meta had kicked off a talent war in the AI space earlier this year, aggressively hiring for its superintelligence lab and acquihiring former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang.
Another senior Apple executive close to retirement is Johny Srouji, head of the hardware technologies group, which is responsible for Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. While a final call is awaited, Srouji could be replaced by Zongjian Chen, who oversees the modem group and other teams, or Sri Santhanam, who leads the development of main device processors (CPUs), Gurman said.
Lisa Jackson, who handles Apple’s climate friendly initiatives as the vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, is another member of the executive team likely to quit, Gurman wrote.