Yesterday was Apple’s first day without Tim Cook at the helm. After 15 whole years.
The man who took over the company from Steve Jobs in 2011 has handed his chair to John Ternus. And pay attention to the timing, because it is not random. He is leaving at exactly the moment when Apple is behind in artificial intelligence. At a time when the prices of its devices are rising. And just eight days before the biggest event of the last decade.
On Monday, his last day, Cook sent a memo to the entire company. And he did not talk about numbers. He did not talk about stocks.
“Whatever anyone says about my success, I know it is all because of you,” he wrote. “You brought out the best in me.” And he followed that with a phrase that says much more than an annual report: “This place is proof that culture beats everything.”
On X, he wrote something even simpler: “My title changes tomorrow, but the love I have for the Apple community will never change.”
A few days earlier, on August 23, they held a farewell dinner for him at Apple Park. Hours of tributes, from Ternus himself to Laurene Powell Jobs. And at the end, OneRepublic, his favorite band, performed live.
And here is the most interesting part. Cook is not leaving.
He is becoming executive chairman. He will retain responsibility for Apple’s relationships with Trump and the Chinese government. He has told executives that the company will remain his number one priority, because “he cannot imagine it any other way.” Yes, he also talks about hiking and his vacation home in Palm Springs. But his chair is right next to the new CEO’s.
Now let’s look at exactly what he is handing over.
In 2012, Apple had revenue of $157 billion. In 2025, it closed at $416 billion. Its market capitalization went from approximately $350 billion to $4.6 trillion. Second in the world, behind only Nvidia at $5.2 trillion.
The stock? Up 2,275% during his tenure. Including dividends, 2,736%. Well ahead of the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100.
And there is something most people have not realized. Since 2012, Apple has spent more than $840 billion on buybacks. Yes, you read that correctly. It has reduced its shares outstanding by almost 45% from the 2012 peak. In other words, if you held the stock without doing anything, the slice of the pie that belonged to you nearly doubled on its own.
And Services? It went from scraps to a $109 billion business. In other words, it now generates more on its own than the entire Apple generated when Cook took over.
Now you might say... was everything perfect? No. Cook never produced a second iPhone. The AirPods and Apple Watch did well, but they were accessories to the iPhone. The Vision Pro did not sell. And the car, after a decade and billions of dollars, was scrapped in 2024.
“And who is this guy, Chris?” you might be wondering.
John Ternus is 51 years old and has been at Apple for 25 years. He started as an engineer designing Macs. Then he took over the iPads, AirPods, iPhones, and eventually the entire hardware division.
And here is the big difference. Cook was a man of operations. Ternus is a product man.
“He is an elevator guy,” Cook told employees. “He can see clearly from 30,000 feet, but he also goes down to the basement, into the smallest detail.”
And that is already becoming apparent. Because he has been working on the entire upcoming product lineup for years. A foldable iPhone. A smart home display that recognizes who is speaking. AirPods with cameras that understand the environment around you. Smart glasses, a home security system, even a camera pendant.
At the same time, however, Ternus never believed in the Vision Pro. He considered it too heavy and too expensive to become mainstream, and Apple has already cut jobs from that team. But he has absolute faith in the iPhone. He says people want one device with a screen that does everything.
His first test? On September 9, at the Steve Jobs Theater, under the slogan “Surprise and shine.” Cook will perhaps be sitting in the front row. But for the first time in 15 years, he will not take the stage.
Of course, there is one big “but.” And it is not just one thing, it is five.
First, artificial intelligence. Apple Intelligence was a fiasco. And now Apple is paying Google to use Gemini as the foundation for the new Siri. The new Siri AI is coming out in September. The first reviews are positive, but the stakes are enormous.
Second, memory. Because of the crazy demand for AI chips, memory prices have skyrocketed. Apple has already raised the prices of MacBooks, iPads, Apple TV, and Apple One. The iPhone is next. And the foldable? Some analysts are talking about $2,500.
Third, talent. Hundreds of former Apple employees now work on OpenAI’s hardware. Apple has sued OpenAI for trade-secret theft, and Ternus has handed out emergency bonuses worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to retain his iPhone design team.
Fourth, his own team. Around half of the leadership core could leave in the coming years. Marketing, retail, hardware, all of them close to 60. Phil Schiller already resigned from the App Store on Monday.
And fifth, valuation. Apple is trading at approximately 33x forward earnings, compared with a 10-year average of 23x. When Cook took over, it was at 12x. In other words, Ternus is taking over a company that is already expensive.
