Cook says goodbye to Apple and Ternus takes the helm with the challenge of AI

Tim Cook, the leader who took over Apple after the death of the founder, Steve Jobs, prepares to leave the position of executive president (CEO), after turning the company into a $4 billion giant (EUR 3.4 billion).

After almost 15 years ahead of the company, Cook, 65 years old, will become chairman of the Board of Directors and will give command to John Ternus, current senior vice president of Hardware Engineering.

The choice of a hardware leader indicates that Apple believes the future of AI will pass through integrated devices such as smart glasses or AirPods with cameras, and not just through the cloud.

Apple stayed behind from giants like Google, who have already integrated AI into their devices, or emerging companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, who have become industry leaders.

Despite presenting “Apple Intelligence”, some resources, such as the awaited update of Siri’s assistant, have suffered successive delays, which highlights the company’s difficulty in achieving current market standards.

In addition, the trade policy determined by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, will be another challenge for Cook's successor.

Apple is capable of generating millions thanks to the fact that Cook has built a China-centered, efficient and economic supply chain, but this model today is vulnerable due to the deterioration of relations between Washington and Beijing.

Ternus inherits the complex challenge of diversifying this network due to tariff policies driven by Donald Trump's administration to encourage production in the United States.

After the start of the covid-19 pandemic, Apple bet on India as an alternative to reducing its dependence on China, but this transition faced diplomatic obstacles after Trump's re-election in 2024.

The new administration is focused on generating more investments and jobs in the country and has resorted to the threat of higher tariffs to pressure companies to transfer part of their supply chains to the United States.

Apple has promised to invest tens of billions of dollars in the country in chips manufactured in the US for iPhones, as well as adding a Mac Mini assembly line to Texas. However, most of its supply chain remains in Asia.

The company will start a new era on September 1, when John Ternus takes over, at age 51, as CEO, becoming the company's third leader in three decades.

The current Hardware Engineer has been in the company of Cupertino (California) for a quarter of a century and has participated in virtually all of the brand's recent successes, from the various generations of iPhone and iPad to the release of AirPods, Apple Watch and the incursion into mixed reality with Vision Pro.