Tim Cook’s last day as Apple CEO: 6 Big things that changed under his leadership

From Tuesday, September 1, Apple’s top job will belong to John Ternus, the company’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering.

Cook took over Apple at a difficult time. Jobs had stepped down because of his failing health, and he died only two months later. Since then, Cook has helped Apple grow into one of the most valuable companies in the world. 

Cook will stay with Apple in a new role 

Apple first announced the leadership change in April. The company’s board approved the plan unanimously after Apple described it as a “thoughtful, long-term succession planning process.”

Cook, 65, will now become executive chairman of Apple’s board. Apple said he will “assist with certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers around the world.” Arthur Levinson, who has been Apple’s non-executive chairman for the past 15 years, will become lead independent director. Ternus will also join Apple’s board. 

• Cook was already running much of Apple before becoming CEO 

Cook became Apple’s CEO on August 24, 2011, after Jobs stepped down. But he had already been one of the most important people at Apple for years.

Cook had taken charge of Apple’s daily operations during two of Jobs’ medical leaves. He joined Apple in 1998 as senior vice president for worldwide operations.

At the time, Apple was struggling and was close to bankruptcy.

Cook focused on the company’s supply chain and made major changes to how Apple managed its operations. That work later became one of the foundations of the company’s growth. Ternus, meanwhile, joined Apple in 2001 as part of the product design team. He became vice president of Hardware Engineering in 2013 and was promoted to senior vice president in 2021. 

He has been involved in the development of some of Apple’s biggest products, including the iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods and Apple Watch. 

• Apple’s value grew more than 20 times 

The numbers behind Cook’s time as CEO show how much Apple has grown.

The numbers behind Cook’s time as CEO show how much Apple has grown. During his tenure, Apple’s split-adjusted stock price increased more than 20-fold. On the day Apple announced the succession, the company’s shares closed, with Apple’s overall market value reaching $4 trillion (an 11-fold increase from its 2011 valuation). 

Revenue has also jumped sharply.

Yahoo Finance reported that Apple’s revenue rose to more than $400 billion in the latest fiscal year. That compares with about $108 billion in the 2011 fiscal year that Cook inherited.

• Services became a huge part of Apple’s business

When Cook became CEO, Apple depended largely on people buying new hardware. That has changed significantly. Apple’s Services business is now its second-largest business. It includes the App Store, Apple Music, iCloud, Apple Pay, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, AppleCare and advertising. 

Services brought in $109.1 billion in revenue last year. Wearables was Apple’s third-largest segment, generating $35.6 billion.

AppleMagazine also reported that Services reached record revenue levels in fiscal 2025.

David Yoffie of Harvard Business School told Yahoo Finance that expanding the iPhone business into services gave Apple a new source of both revenue and profit.

The move also helped Apple rely less on customers buying new devices every year. Someone can continue using an older iPhone, for example, while still paying Apple for cloud storage, subscriptions or payment services.

• Apple moved away from Intel and built its own chips 

One of Cook’s biggest technology decisions was Apple’s move away from Intel processors in its Mac computers. In June 2020, Apple announced a two-year plan to move Macs to its own chips.

Cook called the change “a historic day for the Mac.”

TechCrunch reported that the transition began in 2020 and was completed across Apple’s Mac range by 2023. The new chips brought longer battery life, stronger performance and better power efficiency. 

Macworld described the move as one of the Mac’s biggest changes in a decade. There is also a clear link between that decision and Apple’s newer AI plans.

When Cook became CEO, Apple had only recently launched its first in-house chip, the A4, in 2010. That technology has since developed into the chips used across Apple’s iPhones, iPads and Macs. 

The San Francisco Standard said Apple’s decision paid off in two ways. It helped the company move ahead of Intel in hardware performance and later gave Apple a strong base for Apple Intelligence. 

Because the AI processing can happen on the device, Apple can also keep using the on-device privacy approach that has become an important part of its brand. 

• Apple Watch and AirPods became big businesses 

Cook also took Apple deeper into wearable technology. During his tenure, the company launched and expanded products including the Apple Watch, AirPods and the Vision Pro mixed-reality headset.

The Apple Watch and AirPods became major product lines. Tech-Insider.org estimated that AirPods have grown into a business worth around $20 billion a year under John Ternus, who is now moving from hardware chief to CEO.

Vision Pro has had a much harder time.

CNBC reported that the mixed-reality headset has struggled to gain market adoption since its launch in 2024. That has made it one of the clearest disappointments of the Cook era.

• Privacy became a major part of Apple’s identity

Cook also made privacy and security central to Apple’s image.

Apple built an industry-leading privacy position during his time as CEO. The company has repeatedly presented its products as more secure than those of rivals such as Google and Meta.

But there is an obvious tension in that message. Apple still uses Google as the default search engine on Safari. The business deal with Google does not always sit comfortably with Apple’s strong privacy-focused marketing.

• Apple started returning more money to shareholders 

Cook also changed Apple’s approach to its shareholders. Apple introduced a dividend and share-buyback programme in 2012, soon after Cook became CEO.

Apple had not done this under Jobs. Since then, the company has spent hundreds of billions of dollars buying back its own shares.

Ternus takes over as Apple faces its biggest AI challenge

The change from Cook to Ternus is Apple’s first CEO transition since Jobs handed the job to Cook in 2011. Ternus now takes over at a particularly important time for the company.

Apple entered the AI race with Apple Intelligence in 2024. But the company has faced delays in delivering the upgraded Siri it had promised.

At the same time, Apple has remained behind some of the biggest names in generative AI, including OpenAI, whose ChatGPT helped start the current AI boom in 2022.

That is the challenge Ternus will inherit when he officially becomes CEO on September 1. 

Apple gives Cook a farewell 

Apple held a farewell event for Cook on August 23 at the Caffé Macs cafeteria at its Cupertino campus, according to The Information. About 200 people reportedly attended. The event also featured a performance by the band OneRepublic. 

Laurene Powell Jobs, former Apple COO Jeff Williams, Services chief Eddy Cue and Ternus were among those who reportedly spoke at the event.

During his final weeks as CEO, CBS News asked Cook what he wanted his legacy to be.

Cook said: “In my view, your legacy is described by others, not yourself. And so, I hope that people will say that I was a good and decent man.”

After nearly 15 years as Apple’s CEO, Cook is now moving to the boardroom. Ternus will take over the company at a time when Apple remains hugely successful but faces a major test: proving it can keep up in the fast-moving artificial intelligence race.