“ We have a launch next week that will be phenomenal”

O new CEO of Apple, John Ternus, began his duties as the new leader of the technology giant this Tuesday, day 1, and decided to start addressing the workers with a dedicated message.

As with Tim Cook – who left the CEO position after a 15-year period ahead of Apple – the new leader left a message where, in addition to congratulating his predecessor, he also left a message of optimism.

“Today, on my first day as CEO, I would like to send a small note to thank everyone for the messages of affection”, can be read at the beginning of the message shared by site 9to5mac. “I wanted to extend my deepest thanks to Tim [Cook] for sharing so much of his knowledge and experience during this transition and, more importantly, for all that he has contributed over the years to Apple. We are so lucky that we had a CEO who led with values, with such decency and humanity. We are all better for that, so I am grateful that you become our executive president [of the Board of Directors]”.

Ternus also said he's excited about this next chapter in his, categorizing Apple as “the largest company in the world”. Furthermore, Apple's new leader noticed that followers of the company can expect news in “phenomenal” event that is marked next week.

“ We have a big launch next week that will be phenomenal”, wrote Ternus. “ I'm very excited about what comes next, both for the amazing products we're already working on and those we haven't even imagined we'll idealize and create together. There is no team in the world with which I would rather build the future”.

The legacy of Tim Cook

During Cook’s mandate, Apple – which in 2011 was worth around $350 billion (around €302 billion) – is currently valued at $4.67 billion – the equivalent of €4 billion. Under the leadership of Cook, Apple also multiplied its annual revenues and exceeded $416 billion (EUR 358 billion) during the fiscal year 2025.

Cook's strategy also helped turn Apple into more than one hardware company. Instead of just launching new mobile phones and computers, Apple is also now known as a service provider – especially Apple TV, Apple Music and other health and well-being-related subscriptions.

But this does not mean that Cupertino's technology has moved away from his DNA from creating devices and gadgets that can impact the lives of those who use them. Although Apple still has the iPhone as its most popular product, there are products released during Cook's mandate that are hard to ignore and are everywhere today.

This is the case with the smart watch Apple Watch (launched in 2015), the wireless earphones AirPods (2016), the home-made column HomePod (2018) and – even more limitedly – the virtual reality glasses and increased Vision Pro (2023).

It should also be remembered that, under the leadership of Tim Cook, Apple has also been more willing to bet on multiple models of its products – some of them have even changed the perception we have of them.

This is the case with iPad mini (2012) and iPad Pro (2015) in the tablet category, iPhone X (2017) and iPhone Air (2025) on mobile phones and also MacBook Neo (2026), which helped make Apple laptops more accessible.