Former Apple CEO John Sculley discusses the way forward for the expertise firm amid management modifications and the rise of synthetic intelligence on ‘The Claman Countdown.’
Apple CEO Tim Prepare dinner says he’s stepping down after 15 years as chief government as a result of three key elements aligned: Apple’s present efficiency, its product roadmap and the readiness of his successor, John Ternus.
Prepare dinner stated the timing got here all the way down to a transparent inner evaluation of the corporate’s place and future.
“I checked out three issues,” Prepare dinner advised FOX Enterprise. “I regarded on the efficiency of the corporate within the first half, and it’s been outstanding. I wished to announce at a cut-off date the place our roadmap was unimaginable, and so there can be some nice issues taking place sooner or later. And I wished to announce at a time that John was prepared, and John is prepared. And so all three of these issues intersected, and it felt to me like the best time.”
APPLE CEO TIM COOK TO STEP DOWN IN MAJOR LEADERSHIP SHAKEUP, SUCCESSOR NAMED
Tim Prepare dinner (R) will change into Apple’s government chairman and John Ternus will change into Apple CEO on Sept. 1, 2026. (Reuters)
Apple introduced final week that Prepare dinner will step down as CEO on Sept. 1 and transition to government chairman. Ternus, Apple’s head of {hardware} engineering, will take over as the corporate’s subsequent chief government.
Prepare dinner is coming into the ultimate stretch of his CEO tenure with a document second quarter. Apple income jumped 17%, forward of analyst estimates, whereas iPhone gross sales elevated 22% from a 12 months earlier. Prepare dinner stated iPhone gross sales might have been even stronger if not for provide constraints that restricted availability.
The warfare in Iran can be affecting Apple’s enterprise, Prepare dinner stated, creating stress on each income and prices.
WHO IS JOHN TERNUS, SET TO SUCCEED TIM TOOK AS APPLE’S CEO?

Apple staff assist prospects on the Fifth Avenue Apple Retailer on new product launch day on Sept. 19, 2025 in New York Metropolis. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Pictures)
“It creates each income stress, as you’ll guess, within the area, and it creates enter prices the world over,” Prepare dinner stated. Oil costs have risen to their highest degree in 4 years amid provide disruptions within the Center East and issues across the Strait of Hormuz.
| Ticker | Safety | Final | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAPL | APPLE INC. | 271.20 | +1.03 | +0.38% |
LEADERSHIP CHANGE AT APPLE SPARKS INDUSTRY AND WALL STREET REACTIONS AS COOK TRANSITIONS ROLES
Prepare dinner additionally addressed investor issues that Apple is perceived to be behind within the synthetic intelligence race, as some Silicon Valley opponents spend way more aggressively on AI infrastructure.
“For those who take a look at our year-over-year development, we’ve actually ramped considerably,” Prepare dinner stated, including that Apple makes use of “a hybrid mannequin” that features “each our personal information facilities and different folks’s information facilities.”

Tim Prepare dinner succeeded Steve Jobs as CEO in 2011. (Alyssa Pointer/Reuters)
Microsoft, Amazon, Meta and Alphabet have collectively forecast greater than $700 billion in spending this 12 months, with a lot of that funding directed towards AI information facilities.
Requested how necessary AI is in his day-to-day priorities, Prepare dinner stated it’s “on the prime of my record, as a result of I see it as an enormous alternative for us and what we ship to our customers.”
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One other challenge weighing on Apple buyers is the surge in reminiscence chip costs, which have climbed roughly 500% since final August. Prepare dinner stated Apple’s reminiscence prices have been greater within the March quarter and are mirrored within the firm’s gross margin.
Apple has yet another earnings report earlier than Prepare dinner’s CEO tenure ends on Sept. 1. Throughout his 15-year run as CEO, Apple returned almost 2,000% to shareholders and elevated its market worth by greater than 1,000%.
