By Ken Muthomi - Reporter
US, 31 August 2026 - Fifteen years ago, Tim Cook took over from Steve Jobs as Apple CEO, stepping into one of the most difficult shadows in corporate history.
When Cook became Apple’s CEO in August 2011, he was taking over from a co-founder whose name had become almost inseparable from the company’s identity, Steve Jobs.
Jobs had returned to Apple in the late 1990s and helped transform it from a struggling computer maker into one of the world’s most influential and renowned technology companies.
Although Cook did not have the reputation of a visionary product mastermind like Jobs, who introduced the iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad, he has built his career largely around operations and supply-chain management.
On Monday, August 31, 2026, marked the last day of Cook’s 15-year tenure as Apple CEO, with John Ternus, who was the Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, set to take over on September 1. Cook is, however, set to remain at Apple as executive chairman.
"Sending lots of love to the Apple community on my last day as CEO. My title changes tomorrow, but the love I have for the Apple community never will. Thank you for being a constant source of inspiration. My gratitude is endless, and I’m excited for the next chapter!" Cook said in a social media post on Monday.
But his departure therefore offers a chance to answer three questions: What company did Cook inherit from Jobs? What did he change? And what will define his legacy?
The Apple Cook inherited
You see, Cook did not inherit a broken company. He took charge of a technology giant at its prime. Apple had already launched the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad under Jobs, products that had transformed the company and left competitors struggling to match.
In 2011, the iPhone was increasingly becoming Apple's signature product, and it still is, while the iPad had opened another major product category, making Apple's market value roughly $350 billion when Cook became CEO. But Apple was in the past heavily associated with its former CEO.
For more than a decade, Jobs had positioned himself as the company's product visionary, with an approach built around a deep focus on a relatively small number of products. Cook's biggest challenge, therefore, was not only keeping Apple profitable, but proving that the company could continue to innovate after Jobs' departure. Jobs died on October 5, 2011, just six weeks after Cook became CEO.
Rather than trying to become another Steve Jobs, Cook built Apple around his own strengths.
What Cook changed at Apple
The most significant change was actually not visible to consumers: Cook turned Apple's operational discipline into a competitive advantage.
He leveraged his background in supply-chain management to help Apple engineer a highly efficient global manufacturing system, thus allowing the company to manage its huge volumes of devices efficiently while protecting margins.
Under Cook, Apple metamorphosed to become more than an iPhone company.
Cook managed to preserve the iPhone while also building new revenue streams around it. He expanded Services, developed new hardware categories, brought Apple's chip design increasingly in-house, and also transformed the company's financial scale, a transformation that has undeniably been enormous.
The Financial Times estimates that Apple now has more than 2.5 billion active devices globally, while more than 3 billion iPhones have been shipped during Cook's tenure.
He expanded the company's services business through products such as Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Pay, iCloud and other subscription and digital services. Furthermore, the company says Cook oversaw the introduction of products and services including the Apple Watch, AirPods and Apple Vision Pro, which are embraced by millions globally.
Furthermore, during his tenure, one of his most important long-term decisions was Apple's move toward designing its own processors. The introduction of Apple silicon transformed the Mac lineup, giving Apple greater control over the performance and integration of its computers.
By Apple's fiscal 2025 fourth quarter, reports indicate that the Services revenue had reached another all-time high, while the company reported quarterly revenue of $102.5 billion.
On the other hand, at the corporate level, Cook's Apple became far more aggressive in returning money to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks. Over the past 15 years, Apple's market value has skyrocketed from roughly $350 billion when Cook took over to more than $4 trillion during his tenure.
Another notable transformation Cook pushed for was changing the company's public image, especially through advocating for privacy and environmental sustainability.
During his tenure, the company expanded its renewable-energy commitments, increasingly positioning itself not simply as a technology manufacturer but as a company with other social responsibilities. Through this, and many other initiatives, Cook actually made Apple less dependent on the personality or image os its of its CEO.
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Failures
The biggest criticism of Cook's tenure is innovation.
For years, critics have argued that while the company has launched successful products, none has had the same impact as the iPhone or iPad.
A good example of this is the Apple Vision Pro, which demonstrated Apple's engineering capabilities but has struggled to become a successful product in the market, raising concerns about whether the company's innovation capacity was still intact.
As competitors race to integrate generative AI into products and services, Apple was widely criticised for moving too slowly. The company has had to work with other technology providers in parts of its AI strategy, a move that has exposed gaps between Apple's strength in tightly controlled hardware and software and the speed of the modern AI race.
On the other hand, the company's dependence on China during Cook's tenure has also been identified as one of Cook's biggest vulnerabilities.
While Cook's supply-chain strategy helped make the company efficient, it also left the company deeply exposed to Chinese manufacturing as well as other geopolitical tensions.
Furthermore, the company has also faced growing regulatory pressure, particularly over its App Store practices and control over its ecosystem.
These problems do not erase Cook's achievements. But they show the challenges he leaves behind.
Apple's Next CEO
When Cook took over Apple, many wondered whether the company could survive without Steve Jobs. Fifteen years later, the answer is clear.
Apple did not simply survive. It became a tech giant at the heart of Silicon Valley.
As Tim Cook steps aside on September 1, Apple is handing the CEO role to John Ternus, an executive who has spent nearly 25 years at the company and played a key role in developing some of its signature devices.
Ternus joined Apple’s Product Design team in 2001 and became vice president of Hardware Engineering in 2013. In 2021, he joined Apple’s executive team as senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, where he led the teams responsible for the company’s iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods and other hardware products.
Over the years, Ternus has been involved in the development of multiple generations of Apple products, including the iPad and AirPods, and has played an important role in the transition of the Mac to Apple silicon.
His background is notably different from Cook’s and very similar to Jobs: while Cook rose through operations and supply-chain management, Ternus comes from an engineering and product-development background.
Before joining Apple, he worked as a mechanical engineer at Virtual Research Systems and holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.
Cook’s departure from the CEO position follows a succession plan announced by Apple on April 20, 2026, after the company’s board approved the leadership transition. He is, however, expected to remain involved in areas such as engaging with policymakers.
As he leaves the role, Cook has proved many doubters wrong, leaving behind a legacy that has cemented his place in Apple’s history.