Tim Cook says he'll step down as Apple's CEO in September, becoming the company's executive chairman. He will be replaced by John Ternus, Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Apple is getting a new CEO in September. Tim Cook, who has run the company for the past 15 years, announced that he's stepping down. Cook took over about a month before the company's visionary co-founder, Steve Jobs, died. NPR's John Ruwitch covers technology for us and joins us to talk about this. Good morning, John.

JOHN RUWITCH, BYLINE: Good morning.

FADEL: So was this a surprise?

RUWITCH: Yes and no. You know, we didn't know the exact date, but rumors about Tim Cook's departure have been making the rounds for a while now out here in Silicon Valley. Tim Cook's 65 years old. He's been in this really tough job, running this juggernaut of a company for a decade and a half. You know, in company announcements, including a note from Cook himself, it's clear that this has been in the works for a while. They also clearly wanted to project sort of continuity rather than any kind of sense that there was a kind of need for radical change at Apple. Cook said he was handing off what he called the best job in the world, but he's not going to disappear. He's going to become executive chairman of the board.

FADEL: Oh, OK. So who's his replacement?

RUWITCH: Yeah. His replacement is a guy named John Ternus. Like Cook, he's an Apple lifer. He's worked at the company for about 25 years, which is most of his professional career. And whereas Cook was known for his focus on supply chains and efficiency and operations, Ternus is a mechanical engineer by training. He's been involved in product design and development, and most recently, he's been in charge of hardware, so the production of all those iconic gadgets that Apple makes. And at the end of the day, it's a device company we're talking about. Here's Jason Snell, who writes about Apple for the website sixcolors.com and for Macworld.

JASON SNELL: If you're viewing it from the outside, you think maybe having somebody who's a little more hands-on with the products that they make will be a nice change of pace from Tim Cook's ruthless operations efficiency.

RUWITCH: In his letter, Cook says Ternus has the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator and the heart to lead with integrity and honor.

FADEL: So now that Cook is stepping away from this position, how did he do as CEO?

RUWITCH: Yeah. You know, Apple's success under Tim Cook is really hard to overstate. You know, Tim Cook took this company that Steve Jobs built, which wowed customers with beautifully designed hardware, sleek phones and laptops, and he made it into a bigger and better-run and more important company. The company's grown more than 1,000% in market cap since Cook took over. It's gone from being a $350 billion company to a $4 trillion behemoth.

While Cook took some flak for not being as creative as Steve Jobs, Apple did roll out some popular new products under Cook, like AirPods and the Apple Watch. And they moved beyond hardware. They added a slate of services. So think Apple TV, Apple News. Those really boosted revenue. Jo-Ellen Pozner is an associate professor at Santa Clara University's Business School, and she had this to say, too.

JO-ELLEN POZNER: The thing that strikes me as Tim Cook's biggest legacy is his focus on values.

RUWITCH: And she's talking about values like protecting users' data privacy. That's important stuff, she says, that helps Apple stand out while a lot of other big-tech companies have really been criticized on that point.

FADEL: So what challenges are going to be waiting for the new CEO when he starts?

RUWITCH: Well, it's a very challenging environment, but I'll flag a couple of things. Under Tim Cook, Apple became dependent on China for manufacturing. Some say over-dependent. And with President Trump's tariffs and friction between the U.S. and China, that's become a costly political risk. Apple's been trying to diversify that, but analysts say it's a very long road ahead. The second is artificial intelligence. You know, critics say Apple is way behind its peers in the tech world in terms of developing and adopting cutting-edge AI. And so John Ternus definitely has his work cut out for him.

FADEL: That's NPR's John Ruwitch. Thank you, John.

RUWITCH: You bet, Leila.

FADEL: And I should note that Apple is a financial supporter of NPR.

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