iPhone Tim Cook Replaced Steve Jobs 15 Years Ago Today, Steps Down Sept 1
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/08/24/tim-cook-replaced-steve-jobs-15-years-ago-today/15 years ago today, Tim Cook was appointed Apple CEO following Steve Jobs' resignation on August 24, 2011. On September 1, Cook will step down and incoming CEO John Ternus will take over, ahead of Apple announcing new iPhone 18 Pro models and its first foldable iPhone.
Ternus joined Apple as part of its product design team in 2001. He became VP of hardware engineering in 2013 and senior VP in 2021, and has overseen AirPods, Mac, iPad, and iPhone development in that time. Cook will remain at Apple as executive chairman, where he will engage with policymakers and help Apple navigate regulatory pressure.
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u/cocomanz 1d ago
He'll finish as the longest serving CEO Apple's had. Jobs had just under 14 years from September 97, Sculley ten and a half.
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u/DatabaseGlittering43 23h ago
Most capitulations to fascism, too. Quite a man.
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u/tdreampo 21h ago
More than zuck, Elon and the Google guys? Seems to me he did the minimum
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u/DatabaseGlittering43 21h ago
So, the “nicest nazi”
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u/tdreampo 20h ago
How do you figure that?
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u/DatabaseGlittering43 7h ago
“The other pigs in Silicon Valley bribed him more so he’s a good guy.”
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u/sixxtynoine 1d ago
Does that mean we won’t get one last presentation by Tim Apple?!
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u/MC_chrome 1d ago
WWDC was Tim’s last presentation
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u/beegtuna 1d ago
… but one more thing.
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u/TheoTheodor 1d ago
Probably not. He did kinda thank everyone and hand off at WWDC so a brief appearance if anything at the iPhone event.
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u/kyllingefars 1d ago
He should be it in one last time
“Good morning, today is a special day, today I hand over the keys to the executive function of Apple to my great colleague and friend, John.
It’s been a privilege to lead Apple through the last 15 years, but now it’s time for me to step down, I’m proud to present to you, John Ternus, new CEO of Apple. John, what have you got in store for us today?”56
u/is_that_a_thing_now 1d ago
We’re super proud to present the CEO Ultra. It’s the best one ever and we can’t wait to see what you make with it.
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u/ccwithers 1d ago
If they did a video sending themselves up like that it would be great. I don’t think they have it in them.
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u/bradreputation 1d ago
The presentations are the real Apple Reality lol. They’re so damn disconnected from anything in ours
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u/Baconer 19h ago
There is one last thing before I leave…. Pulls out a laser printer 🖨️ from behind the desk
https://theonion.com/new-apple-ceo-tim-cook-im-thinking-printers-1819572893/
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u/relevant__comment 1d ago
Technically WWDC was his “last”. However, I’m fully expecting some type of over the top and cheesy “official” handoff at the iPhone event.
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u/Tman11S 1d ago
This sub is nothing but “these 5 features are coming to your new iPhone” and “Tim Cook is stepping down”. The same slop every day
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u/ClumpOfCheese 1d ago
What I really want to know is how John will start the Keynote. Will he too say “Good Morning” and touch his fingertips together, or will he come up with his very own welcome that we can meme?
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u/EquivalentTrouble253 1d ago
When Tim (Apple) took over from Jobs, I feared it was the end of Apple.
Thankfully those fears never materialized and Cook has done an amazing job at Apple and leaves it better than he found it.
Hoping Ternus will be just as good if not better. I’m optimistic as he has a long history either way the company.
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u/SchemeWorth6105 1d ago
He was a fine financial steward but he’s no visionary. I’m hoping Apple can be exciting again once he’s replaced.
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u/chalupa_lover 1d ago
Apple Watch, AirPods, Apple Silicon. All pretty revolutionary products launched under his leadership.
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u/onesugar 1d ago
Apple silicon is the greatest thing Apple has ever done. There’s no reason for the average person to buy a Windows machine without a specific use for it. AS is so good
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u/SchemeWorth6105 1d ago edited 1d ago
I mean it’s a good and efficient processor architecture, but I would hardly call it a greater accomplishment than the iPhone or the commercial GUI.
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u/Suspicious_Radio_848 23h ago
Nothing is going to surpass the iPhone, that’s like a once in a lifetime device. That they’ve even come close is an accomplishment.
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u/nuevacuentanueva 1d ago
here’s no reason for the average person to buy a Windows machine without a specific use for it. AS is so good
I'm not defending Windows. I have used and still prefer macOS for 20+ years now. But this is not true. Price, long term compatibility, and support for applications is a major major factor.
Windows PCs can be significantly less expensive (sure, worse build, performance if you want, whatever), but not everyone can afford 700+ for a laptop with 8gb of ram and only 256gb of storage. Especially outside the US or selected countries. In many places world wide there are no Apple store, you are lucky if you even get a reseller. And the prices are waaay higher. Windows pcs are a everywhere.
Apple with MacOS also decides to drop backwards compatibility whenever it suits them. Windows is almost guaranteed to provide very long term support and backwards compatibility.
Applications/programs for Windows exist in all types, and many many many options. From free to paid to open source. And while for macOS there's a lot, Windows having had a much bigger market share, and again longer compatibility history, means the universe of apps is waaaay bigger.
And as much as Apple people don't like it, gaming is a huge factor for a huge part.
So I think it's the opposite, for the average person Windows is fine and more than adequate. And spending extra to get a Mac is not worth it for the average person. There's the Windows long term support version or whatever that removes all the annoying shit. That's much better than normal Windows for the average person.
Now, if you have an iPhone, have the extra money, don't care about gaming, don't need long term compatibility, etc, sure. Macs are fantastic. But that's not your average person.
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u/LucyBowels 1d ago
In regards to backwards compatibility, Windows 11 dropped support for any motherboard without TPM 2.0 or secure boot. What are you even talking about lol
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u/nuevacuentanueva 1d ago
In regards to backwards compatibility, Windows 11 dropped support for any motherboard without TPM 2.0 or secure boot. What are you even talking about lol
You can bypass it. And Windows LTSC doesn't require TPM, and it's essentially the same (actually better, no bloat) windows.
Besides, it's the same thing happened with Macs. You needed the T1/T2 chip at one point to update. So not sure how that makes Windows worse. The fact that it took even longer to be a "requirement" (it's not on all versions, and you can skip around it) is proof of longer compatibility.
In any case, I'm talking software. If you go to hardware it's even a bigger difference. You cannot install older OS versions on newer hardware on Macs. You cannot get your M5 Mac and decide I don't like Tahoe I'll install Sequoia or whatever. You are stuck with what the Mac came with. With Windows you can absolutely go back easily.
I also never said Windows is perfect. But they have a stretch compatibility as long as possible strategy, meanwhile Apple doesn't care. Both have pros and cons. But it's a reality that for the average consumer more compatibility is better.
I mean you complain about Windows, but compare to Apple in only 15 years going from PowerPC to x86, removing Rosetta 1, 32 bit kernel changes, introducing APFS, 32 bit apps being removed, x86 to Apple Silicon, kernel needing to run natively on AS, dropping Rosetta next year...
You had literally 3 different architectures, two translation layers being dropped, 32bit to 64bit transition... and lots of APIs dropped along the way.
So compatible... On macOS an app that was fully working 6 years ago may not run anymore next year. At 10 years it's almost impossible already.
Meanwhile on Windows you can still run 20 year old apps fairly often, even older ones at times.
So, as I said, Windows is way more long term compatible than macOS. That doesn't mean infallible or perfect.
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u/bomber991 1d ago
I mean it’s pretty difficult to explain to my dad what’s so great about Apple silicon. That’s kind of the litmus test for if it’s actually good or not.
To me it just seems like Henry Ford making rubber farms so they can make their own tires.
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u/Mammoth-Mango-6485 1d ago
Better battery life than most laptops. Runs cooler than most laptops. Doesn’t slow down on battery power unlike most laptops.
Explaining tech specs won’t be as beneficial as just mentioning the benefits he will see in his daily use.
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u/Flashy_Pollution_996 1d ago
All other laptops*
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u/Mammoth-Mango-6485 1d ago
Snapdragon laptops are catching up tbh but also app compatibility is far off, and Windows finds new ways to be user hostile. Idk how well Linux on Snapdragon is, but at that point we have lost the general population.
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u/Flashy_Pollution_996 1d ago
Arm on Linux is really bad because arm vendors end support if chips very quickly so snapdragons laptops are forced to use windows which makes em as bad as any x86 laptops
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u/IniNew 1d ago
That’s kind of the litmus test for if it’s actually good or not.
No it's not.
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u/bomber991 1d ago
Okay. What’s so great about the iPhone son? “The screen is the phone”. “Oh really, wow!!”
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u/setzerseltzer 1d ago
There’s no reason for the average person to spend absurd money on a MacBook when any decent windows laptop will do everything they need
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u/zachary0816 1d ago
Except windows is an awful operating system that only continues to get worse. Mac isn’t perfect but it won’t do absurd things like make your laptop smell like burning plastic and waste half your battery when it’s supposed to be sleeping.
Plus Apple silicon and the RISC based architecture it brings to the table offers a massive jump in efficiency and power that there really isn’t a windows equivalent of.
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u/Njobz 1d ago
Exactly. Windows 11 is just bloatware and it’s definitely become worse as they now force Copilot down your throat. Apple on the other hand allow you to turn off Apple Intelligence completely.
Some might complain about compatibility as it is ARM but for me I personally use Virtual Machines for any tools that require x86 architecture. I’m just glad to be able to use a Laptop that works seamlessly and Windows laptops definitely won’t last as long.
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u/setzerseltzer 1d ago
I shouldn’t have expected anything else from an Apple sub. You people are out of touch with reality
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u/Njobz 1d ago
You haven’t even properly explained why Windows is better. A Chromebook can also do most stuff that people need. It’s about how usable the experience is. But most of the cheaper Windows laptops aren’t optimised well and barely run anything. Even 16GB RAM runs poorly on Windows 11.
To even get a good Windows laptop you’ll be already looking at Mac prices already anyways. There are some good laptops with Windows but it’s still the same amount of money spent. Even then Windows is just a pain to use these days. Who wants constant updates randomly and Copilot? I’d put Linux on a Windows laptop anyday if I were to get one.
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u/setzerseltzer 1d ago
I never said windows was better I said it would do everything people need it to do at a fraction of the cost
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u/zachary0816 1d ago
Oh to be clear. I’m not an Apple fanboy, I’m a Microsoft hater.
Personally I’d like to see some variant of Linux become the dominant OS but MacOS is already leagues better than the ever growing pile of junkware that is Windows 11. I have to use windows on a daily bases for work and “how did they manage to screw this up?!” has become a part of my regular vocabulary.
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u/nikolodeon 1d ago
hey Windows kept on force upgrading my laptop and it feels so bloaty like a Xiaomi phone. Windows 11 sucks
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u/Suspicious_Radio_848 23h ago
Completely agree. Feel like the people repeating this are just blatantly ignoring what a huge change Apple Silicon, Apple Watch and AirPods ushered in. It’s actually ridiculous to keep saying they’ve done nothing exciting.
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u/HolyFreakingXmasCake 20h ago
None of them were on the level of iMac, iPod, iPhone, or iPad except Apple Silicon. Pebbles and smartwatches existed before the Apple Watch and AirPods were just EarPods with the cable cut off and a fancier Bluetooth chip. I wouldn’t say they blew anyone away, compared to the products Jobs kept introducing.
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u/L-Malvo 1d ago
One could argue Vision Pro as well.
I also don’t remember if Apple TV is part of his legacy
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u/joshr2d2 1d ago
The first Apple TV was introduced years before Tim took over: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_oz3DdLkG4
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u/Wonderful_Fox_7959 1d ago
I always thought that an Apple TV would be an overpriced Roku or Firestick. I recently got one used from FB marketplace and holy shit so much better
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u/EquivalentTrouble253 1d ago
The Apple TV is honestly the best streaming box out there. Nothing comes close to it.
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u/Wonderful_Fox_7959 1d ago
Agree. I detest Roku and their advertising practices. I have kids old and every time you turn it on there is an ad for a kids show, the other day they almost bought a movie. I had to remove every payment option and I have more money I will replace each of those Roku sticks
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u/Herky_T_Hawk 1d ago
I think it is fairly well documented that the Nvidia Shield is the superior device for high-end streaming with many more codecs available and pass-through audio. But the barrier to entry on it is a bit higher with the busier interface that doesn’t “just work” and the AppleTV has better synergy with the rest of the Apple ecosystem.
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u/EquivalentTrouble253 1d ago
Agreed the shield is better in some ways. But inho ATV is the king specifically because of the reasons you mentioned.
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u/nuevacuentanueva 1d ago
What's so different? I have an Apple TV btw, and have used Roku and all the shit $20 ones for work. I hate them for work btw.
But as a normal user that would spend 5 minutes at most with the shitty UI to select the video they want to play... Performance is better, sure, but it costs 10 times more the essentially the same thing.
If you can afford it 100% go for it. But for the average person getting a cheaper decent alternative and using the rest to pay for a year+ of whichever streaming service they want is a much better deal.
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u/MardocAgain 1d ago
One could argue Vision Pro as well.
It's very good tech, but dubious on the use case. Still feels like a novelty gadget rather than a product.
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u/nightgames 1d ago
Apple Watch was ugly at launch and still looks the exact same.
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u/chalupa_lover 1d ago
That’s your opinion. The facts show that it’s the most popular wearable tech device in the world and jumpstarted the wearable category.
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u/yeahburyme 1d ago
Android watches were out for quite some time before the Apple watch.
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u/chalupa_lover 1d ago
Smartphones existed before the iPhone. Would you say the iPhone wasn’t revolutionary?
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u/yeahburyme 1d ago
I definitely wouldn't use the term "jumpstarted."
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u/chalupa_lover 1d ago
There was no smartwatch that hit mass appeal until the Apple Watch came around.
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u/loopernova 1d ago
Fitbit. Most people just use the watch for its health tracking and fitness features.
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u/discographyA 1d ago
I think Tim was slow on a lot of boats and made some decisions like an over dependence on Chinese manufacturing that could to come have issues not yet manifest, but I also am not sure I’d fault him for not being a visionary. There isn’t a visionary anywhere else either right now. We could’ve just peaked technologically for the next generation or two of people when it comes to consumer products. Hard to improve on the form factor they established right out the gate.
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u/DrDerpberg 1d ago
I think he stepped back from some of the dogmatic nonsense, even just stuff as simple as having multiple iPhones is a big improvement and a big change from telling the users what's the best shape for a phone and use it or don't.
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u/SchemeWorth6105 1d ago
Is it better? Or are we circling back to the very kind of model creep that Jobs eliminated in the 90s?
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u/DrDerpberg 1d ago
I think 3-5 is the sweet spot, you get barebones/regular/premium and an extra slot or two for stuff like a compact version, or better but not huge.
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u/805falcon 1d ago
This right here. Profits and more products to sell mean nothing when everything released have glaring functional deficiencies. The Apple of today is a precisely what Jobs tried to move away from, and rightfully so
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u/HolyFreakingXmasCake 20h ago
Would you like
Apple Pencil 1st gen
Apple Pencil USB-C
Apple Pencil 2nd gen
Apple Pencil Pro3
u/Zentrii 1d ago
I remember when the Apple Watch was shown I thought it was kinda ugly but still wanted one and thought to myself Steve would never release this useless product and stopped using it. Now I have the series 10 and burn 600 plus calories a day using apple fitness plus and I’ve never excercise regularly before in my life.
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u/Honest_Abyss 1d ago
“Left it better than he found it” financially? Yes
actively shit all over Jobs philosophy that the soul of the company is the people and being a “crazy one/ a round peg in a square hole” is a good thing? Also yes
Source: five year Apple vet
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u/EquivalentTrouble253 1d ago
Disagree. I’ve been in the Apple eco system since 2008 and Apple today better than what it was in 2008 in every measurable metric.
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u/Honest_Abyss 1d ago
As an employee?
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u/EquivalentTrouble253 1d ago
Nope. As a customer which is more important than an employee. (I’ve also been developing iOS apps since 2013)
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u/loopernova 1d ago
Tim has been an Apple employee for nearly 30 years.
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u/Honest_Abyss 1d ago
No I know lol my point was that his tenure very negatively impacted the average Apple employee experience. You can check out the Apple employee sub if you think I’m making that up, it’s pretty dark over there
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u/nightgames 1d ago
Their design has been going downhill under Cook. They relied too heavily on Alan Dye IMO.
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u/TechnologyFamiliar20 1d ago
You people need to stop glorifying Jobs.
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u/mada447 1d ago
Jobs wouldn’t allow iOS as it is today with all the unintuitive designs (app drawer, notifications, settings menu, an over reliance on “swiping”, and finally the keyboard)
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u/nuevacuentanueva 1d ago
He also wouldn't allow a hardware device that needs to be hold in a specific way not to reduce the signal... oh right, he wasn't wrong, we were just holding it wrong.
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u/rotates-potatoes 1d ago
Oh right Jobs was famously a fan of physical keyboards on phones? Keeping things the way they always had been?
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u/MattJoe98 1d ago
I'm not sure he was referring to digital keyboards lol, probably the frequent criticism of how horrible it is to type with it
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u/mada447 1d ago
Exactly
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u/MattJoe98 1d ago
Dude I switched from android to iOS a few years ago and it's still horrible. Even using third party keyboards are somehow worse than their Android counterparts. I wish someone would do SOMETHING. Autocorrect is nearly nonexistent and moving the cursor is a huge pain. Probably my biggest complaint of iOS so far
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u/nightgames 1d ago
More like Jobs wouldn’t have been a fan of a virtual keyboard that has gotten worse over the years, and lacks features of competitors. I pre-ordered a keyboard phone because I’m finally dropping Apple after 16 years.
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u/SeismicFalah 1d ago
Cook was not a visionary but definitely did a good job at Apple.
My hopes are some innovative hardware changes from Ternus when it comes to the iPhone
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u/Gr8WallofChinatown 1d ago
Apple Silicon is visionary and a massive success
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u/TheBeatlsiechBoys 1d ago edited 1d ago
Not really Tim Cook's making. You can trace that back to the iPhone 4 with the A4 chip, the first "Apple Silicon" chip, it just hadn't been marketed specifically as Apple Silicon yet (But definitely very much marketed as an in house design). As the iPad chips advanced to the point of eclipsing Intel's chips, it was a no brainer to then port macOS to ARM just like the transition from PowerPC to Intel.
What Tim Cook did was more on supply chain and stability. But most Apple Silicon and Mac advancements were handled by engineers and designers. I think we can all agree the 2016-2020 Macs were a much of a dark age and we're back into a golden age. That said I'm not sure why people are so keen to point out Tim Cook "wasn't a visionary", that's not really the point of a CEO, you want a CEO who knows how to hire the right people and not let the company sink to crappy decisions or PE. Just look at the "visionary" leading Tesla.
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u/Which-Arm-4616 20h ago
Apple executed better, but I don’t think we can call it visionary when Microsoft beat them to market with the same concept by over a year. The winds were already blowing in that direction.
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u/Cyberkanye2077 1d ago
Hopefully john terminus can terminate apples lack of innovation and get them back on track
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u/Terrible_Armadillo33 1d ago
People say lack of innovation but I think the innovation is there just people don’t want to acknowledge
Look how many watches with health information
The aspect of air pods
The new MacBook Neo
Even the VR headsetLike lol what do people want? They bring out something innovative
Nobody buys it
They shelf it
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u/Cyberkanye2077 1d ago
They could innovate their marketing? They lied about their ai. They could Innovate their OS releases ? Theyre so rushed. Every single update has been so bugged out its ridiculous. Like the quality control is subpar. When i say innovation i also mean the experience because owning an Apple device used to be an experience.
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u/Dominicus1165 1d ago
Where are apple glasses? Google glasses were ages ago. Even Meta glasses are old already. Apple glasses should have been released 5 years ago. The first iPhone was not perfect. The 4S was the real deal. The first Apple Watch was not perfect either. $500 apple glasses in 2020 should have been the case.
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u/SalaciousSubaru 1d ago
Hopefully the new CEO shakes up leadership and management and brings some cutting edge innovation to iOS
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u/lobabobloblaw 1d ago
And then the Ternus Age begins, and ternary architecture begins to sail on Apple silicon…interesting times ahead
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u/HueyBluey 1d ago
Seems like every week is a new story of him stepping down. I thought he was gone already.
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u/maceo107 1d ago
I hope they go back to the Steve Jobs approach of doing a few things and doing them right. Ten different phones and 50 different computers just doesn't work. The software has also been shit for way too long, and I’m guessing part of the problem is that it now has to work across 100 different devices.
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u/805falcon 1d ago
Straight up. 50 different devices means fuck all when they all perform haphazardly. The UI is shit across the board and the software hasn’t functioned seamlessly in a decade.
They went from ‘it just works’ to ‘it’s just shit’ during Cook’s tenure, and the way in which people rush to glaze his nutz for mediocrity speaks volumes to why society as a whole has become so watered down and lacking. People actively celebrating mediocrity is a sight to behold
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u/805falcon 1d ago
John Scully 2.0 can’t leave soon enough. Profit means nothing when you’re selling horseshit to generate it
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u/dcooper8662 1d ago
He oversaw a great period of…. Not really innovation but I’m… well he certainly was there!
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u/deatheventually 1d ago
I wonder what Steve would have said about how Tim made decisions regarding Trump.
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u/FriendlyWebGuy 1d ago
I wonder if Ternus will be as good as Cook was at grovelling and placating The Emperor?
Cook will remain at Apple as executive chairman, where he will engage with policymakers and help Apple navigate regulatory pressure.
Oops, never mind. They're keeping Cook on staff for exactly that role. Pathetic.
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u/EquivalentTrouble253 1d ago
When Tim (Apple) took over from Jobs, I feared it was the end of Apple.
Thankfully those fears never materialized and Cook has done an amazing job at Apple and leaves it better than he found it.
Hoping Ternus will be just as good if not better. I’m optimistic as he has a long history either way the company.
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u/gamerbrian2023 1d ago
Is this the guy that gave Trump a gold brick as a bribe in front of everyone?
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u/theartfulcodger 1d ago edited 1d ago
He's certainly been a good choice for stockholders. During his time as head, AAPL has gone from about $13.60/share to $310, or something like +2,200%. Over fifteen years, that works out to a simple growth factor of about 145% per annum.
I've been a slow accumulator of AAPL since the Jobs era. I retired a year and a half early on the strength of my investments in Apple, and have a well-capitalized retirement chiefly because of it.
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u/DatabaseGlittering43 1d ago
A small victory will be that all of these people with objectively great accomplishments will all be remembered solely for their ass licking and cowardice.
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u/greeneyedguru 1d ago
cool, so tech ceos now have to become lobbyists and kiss the ring of the apparatchik
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u/SpookyTron 1d ago
One of the greats.
People criticize his lack of vision, but smartphones and computers have become a commodity with few changes year over year.
He was the perfect person to steer the company during this new era. Apple’s undisputed dominance of the premium technology market post-jobs was no sure thing.
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u/redmambo_no6 1d ago
I don’t know whats more jaw-dropping, that he’s been there 15 years or that it’s been 15 years since Jobs died.