Who aspires to become Apple’s upcoming CEO? Following the legacies of Steve Jobs and Tim Cook presents one of the toughest challenges in the sector. After all, Jobs possessed the vision, whereas Cook was instrumental in propelling Apple to become one of the most valuable firms in history.
With Apple’s COO Jeff Williams announcing his retirement, it’s not just the “old gang” at Apple that’s leaving, but the roster of potential future CEOs is also dwindling.
In a press announcement, Apple revealed that its next chief operating officer will be Sabih Khan, who is the company’s senior vice president of operations. Although the company asserts that this is “part of a long-planned succession,” it is always significant when a top executive at Apple steps down.
Williams became part of Apple in 1998, and since 2015, he held the position of COO. While he was previously speculated to be one of the leading candidates for the role of Apple’s next CEO, his age similarity to Cook made him a less viable option.
Consequently, it appears that only one reasonable name remains to succeed Cook when he eventually resigns as Apple’s CEO: John Ternus. He serves as the senior VP of hardware engineering and has already been discussed as the most probable candidate in the succession line.
Ternus is charged with overseeing the transition of the Mac to Apple Silicon. He also manages the iPad, the iPhone, AirPods, and most recently, the Vision Pro headset along with Apple’s robotics division. At 50 years old, he ranks among the youngest senior VPs at Apple, and even if Tim Cook continues as CEO for another five years, Ternus would still have ample time to lead Apple.
In recent years, we’ve seen several Apple executives resign, marking a pivotal moment in Cupertino, as Apple must instill confidence in customers and investors that it has a strategy for sustaining its status at the forefront of the technology sector.
Last year, Apple’s long-serving CFO Lucas Maestri transitioned to a lesser role. Apple’s previous hardware engineering chief, Dan Riccio, retired in 2024, while Phil Schiller, Apple’s marketing chief, assumed a less significant position at the App Store in 2020. In 2019, Apple’s design leader Jony Ive departed from the company to establish his own design agency.
