Apple now has a new iCEO, as current leader Tim Cook (65) announced late Monday that he is set to become chairman of the board, while current head of hardware engineering, John Ternus, prepares to take over as CEO on Sept. 1 . As you’d expect, this leadership transition at one of the world’s most successful firms, is generating reams of news reports and hot takes. Here’s mine: Just as Steve Jobs presided over the resurrection of Apple and Cook led the company through unprecedented business growth, Ternus will guide the company through an era of equally unprecedented hardware proliferation. Expect more growth He’s someone who cares about craft in hardware design and recently appeared in a worth-watching video interview (chaperoned by Greg Joswiak, the company’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing). The soon-to-be-CEO did well in what was an obvious media training exercise. “Everything we do, even if our customers don’t necessarily see it, everything we do has some new ideas in it…, we feel like we’re innovating all the time,” he said. Among a range of achievements, Cook innovated operations to the extent that every product Apple makes is supported by the world’s most efficient multinational manufacturing and logistics system. While he did, Ternus innovated product. “John Ternus has the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity and with honor,” said Cook. The current CEO has had to handle huge supply chain challenges while scaling logistics to support growth. The numbers illustrate this: Apple sold 18.1 million Macs in the year following his appointment as CEO 15 years ago. In 2025, it sold 27.2 million. iPhone sales grew from 136 million in 2011 to 247 million last year. Rumor has it the MacBook Neo has shifted as many as 10 million units , just as Ternus turns up to take that figure higher. “Tim’s unprecedented and outstanding leadership has transformed Apple into the world’s best company,” said outgoing Apple board chairman Arthur Levinson. You don’t need a weatherman You can see which way the wind blows. Apple’s hardware is selling in record quantities, even as the company seems more prepared – and better able – than ever before to widen its addressable market with more affordable products. It is able to do this without compromising on product quality or user experience for three big reasons: The massive per-customer services income built by Cook. Huge iPhone sales as an inheritance from Steve Jobs. The adoption of Apple Silicon, which has been presided over by Ternus and led by Johny Srouji. Srouji will take on the hardware leadership role being vacated by Ternus and as part of this will combine the hardware technologies and hardware engineering teams, separated in 2012. “I am excited to bring these teams together and deepen their integration to help us innovate even more than we do today. There is no limit to what we can achieve together,” he wrote. That optimism is well-founded. Apple’s processor designs will enable the company to push fast in its new phase of proliferation. With 1nm chips on the horizon , Apple’s processors are small, powerful, and energy efficient, making them suitable for a plethora of new hardware designs the world hasn’t even seen yet. Making impossible things possible Apple under Ternus will no doubt lean into that opportunity. This approach means that not only will you see Apple widen its addressable market with a combination of product quality at better prices, but you’ll also watch it expand its offer with new product families. It’s no coincidence, for example, that Ternus at one point led Apple’s robotics team as the company prepares to introduce its first robotic products in the coming months. Apple’s hardware is supported by Apple’s software, of course. While it will offer some of its own solutions within Apple Intelligence , Apple doesn’t even need to make the AI. It just needs to make the best hardware to run AI on, which is what Ternus is going to focus on. You can already see it. With Ternus leading hardware, the Mac is more powerful and more popular today than at any point in its history — and the MacBook Neo is building on that success. It represents the thin end of a wider wedge of hardware-driven market share growth across all Apple’s products that will now accelerate under Ternus, even while the latter makes his own transition. As board chairman, Cook will turn to handling the complex political and strategic relationships he’s been dealing with as CEO. Cook is very good at that, which also raises the question of whether he has wider ambitions for political engagement . You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky , LinkedIn , Mastodon , and MeWe .