Who wants to be Apple’s next CEO? Following in Steve Jobs and Tim Cook’s footsteps is going to be one of the industry’s biggest challenges. After all, while Jobs had the vision, Cook was responsible for making Apple one of the most valuable companies of all time.
With Apple’s COO Jeff Williams announcing his retirement, not only is Apple’s “old gang” departing, but the list of potential future CEOs is shrinking as well.
In a press release, Apple said its next chief operating officer will be Sabih Khan, the company’s senior vice president of operations. While the company says this is “part of a long-planned succession,” it’s always notable when a top executive at Apple steps down.
Williams joined Apple in 1998, and since 2015, he has been the company’s COO. While he was previously rumored to be one of the top candidates for becoming Apple’s next CEO, his close age to Cook’s made him less of a suitable candidate.
Therefore, it seems there’s only one logical name left to replace Cook once he eventually steps down as Apple’s CEO: John Ternus. He’s senior VP of hardware engineering and has already been rumored as the most likely candidate in the line of succession.
Ternus is responsible for the transition of the Mac to Apple Silicon. He also oversees the iPad, the iPhone, AirPods, and most recently, the Vision Pro headset and Apple’s robotics unit. At 50 years old, he’s one of the youngest senior VPs at Apple, and even if Tim Cook spends another half-decade as CEO, Ternus would still have plenty of time to run Apple.
Over the past few years, we’ve watched several Apple executives step down, which also makes this a crucial moment in Cupertino, as Apple needs to reassure customers and investors that it has a plan for maintaining its position at the top of the tech world.
Last year, Apple’s longtime CFO Lucas Maestri stepped down into a smaller role. Apple’s former hardware engineering chief, Dan Riccio, retired in 2024, while Phil Schiller, Apple’s marketing leader, stepped into a more minor role at the App Store in 2020. In 2019, Apple’s design chief Jony Ive left the company to start his own design firm.
What is Tim Cook saying about the next Apple CEO?
Interestingly, in 2023, Apple CEO Tim Cook was interviewed by Dua Lipa, and he offered some insights regarding his successor:
“We’re a company that believes in working on succession plans, so we have very detailed succession plans,” Cook said. “Because something unpredictable can always happen. I could step off the wrong curb tomorrow. Hopefully, that doesn’t happen. I pray that it doesn’t.”
Regarding the possible successor, he answered: “I can’t say that. But I would say that my job is to prepare several people for the ability to succeed, and I really want the person to come from within Apple, the next CEO. So that’s my role: That there’s several for the board to pick from.”
That said, while from the outside it might seem there are fewer options than ever before, it seems Apple has a plan for whatever the coming years throw its way.
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