u/paperclip_han

Tim Cook is stepping down as Apple CEO — John Ternus takes over September 1st. What does this mean for Apple's future?

After 15 years at the helm, Tim Cook is officially stepping down as Apple's CEO. Apple confirmed that John Ternus, currently SVP of Hardware Engineering, will take over on September 1, 2026. Cook isn't going far though — he's moving to executive chairman, where he'll reportedly focus on policy engagement.

For those unfamiliar with Ternus: he's been at Apple since 2001, led hardware engineering since 2021, and has his fingerprints on basically everything — iPad, AirPods, Apple Watch, recent iPhone generations, and the MacBook Neo. He's an engineer by training (UPenn mechanical engineering) and by reputation one of the more well-liked executives inside Apple.

A few things I'm thinking about:

• Cook's legacy is operations and scale. He took Apple from near-irrelevance to a $4 trillion company. Revenue nearly quadrupled on his watch. Hard act to follow.
• Ternus is product-first. This could be a meaningful cultural shift — back toward the engineering and hardware obsession that defined the Jobs era, without (hopefully) the chaos.
• The timing is interesting. Apple is navigating tariffs, AI chip shortages, a struggling Vision Pro, and geopolitical supply chain pressure. Ternus inherits a complicated inbox.
• Cook sticking around as executive chairman is either reassuring continuity or a sign the board wants a safety net. Probably both.

Personally I'm cautiously optimistic. Having an engineer in the CEO seat who's been building Apple's hardware for 25 years feels right for where the industry is heading. But Cook was also uniquely skilled at managing the macro stuff — trade policy, government relations, supply chains — and that skill set is going to be tested hard over the next few years.

What do you all think? Is this the leadership change Apple needed, or is this a risky moment to be changing the guard?

Tim Cook is stepping down as Apple CEO — John Ternus takes over September 1st. What does this mean for Apple's future?

After 15 years at the helm, Tim Cook is officially stepping down as Apple's CEO. Apple confirmed that John Ternus, currently SVP of Hardware Engineering, will take over on September 1, 2026. Cook isn't going far though — he's moving to executive chairman, where he'll reportedly focus on policy engagement.

For those unfamiliar with Ternus: he's been at Apple since 2001, led hardware engineering since 2021, and has his fingerprints on basically everything — iPad, AirPods, Apple Watch, recent iPhone generations, and the MacBook Neo. He's an engineer by training (UPenn mechanical engineering) and by reputation one of the more well-liked executives inside Apple.

A few things I'm thinking about:

• Cook's legacy is operations and scale. He took Apple from near-irrelevance to a $4 trillion company. Revenue nearly quadrupled on his watch. Hard act to follow.
• Ternus is product-first. This could be a meaningful cultural shift — back toward the engineering and hardware obsession that defined the Jobs era, without (hopefully) the chaos.
• The timing is interesting. Apple is navigating tariffs, AI chip shortages, a struggling Vision Pro, and geopolitical supply chain pressure. Ternus inherits a complicated inbox.
• Cook sticking around as executive chairman is either reassuring continuity or a sign the board wants a safety net. Probably both.

Personally I'm cautiously optimistic. Having an engineer in the CEO seat who's been building Apple's hardware for 25 years feels right for where the industry is heading. But Cook was also uniquely skilled at managing the macro stuff — trade policy, government relations, supply chains — and that skill set is going to be tested hard over the next few years.

What do you all think? Is this the leadership change Apple needed, or is this a risky moment to be changing the guard?

Tim Cook is stepping down as Apple CEO — John Ternus takes over September 1st. What does this mean for Apple's future?

After 15 years at the helm, Tim Cook is officially stepping down as Apple's CEO. Apple confirmed that John Ternus, currently SVP of Hardware Engineering, will take over on September 1, 2026. Cook isn't going far though — he's moving to executive chairman, where he'll reportedly focus on policy engagement.

For those unfamiliar with Ternus: he's been at Apple since 2001, led hardware engineering since 2021, and has his fingerprints on basically everything — iPad, AirPods, Apple Watch, recent iPhone generations, and the MacBook Neo. He's an engineer by training (UPenn mechanical engineering) and by reputation one of the more well-liked executives inside Apple.

A few things I'm thinking about:

• Cook's legacy is operations and scale. He took Apple from near-irrelevance to a $4 trillion company. Revenue nearly quadrupled on his watch. Hard act to follow.
• Ternus is product-first. This could be a meaningful cultural shift — back toward the engineering and hardware obsession that defined the Jobs era, without (hopefully) the chaos.
• The timing is interesting. Apple is navigating tariffs, AI chip shortages, a struggling Vision Pro, and geopolitical supply chain pressure. Ternus inherits a complicated inbox.
• Cook sticking around as executive chairman is either reassuring continuity or a sign the board wants a safety net. Probably both.

Personally I'm cautiously optimistic. Having an engineer in the CEO seat who's been building Apple's hardware for 25 years feels right for where the industry is heading. But Cook was also uniquely skilled at managing the macro stuff — trade policy, government relations, supply chains — and that skill set is going to be tested hard over the next few years.

What do you all think? Is this the leadership change Apple needed, or is this a risky moment to be changing the guard?

Tim Cook is stepping down as Apple CEO — John Ternus takes over September 1st. What does this mean for Apple's future?

After 15 years at the helm, Tim Cook is officially stepping down as Apple's CEO. Apple confirmed that John Ternus, currently SVP of Hardware Engineering, will take over on September 1, 2026. Cook isn't going far though — he's moving to executive chairman, where he'll reportedly focus on policy engagement.

For those unfamiliar with Ternus: he's been at Apple since 2001, led hardware engineering since 2021, and has his fingerprints on basically everything — iPad, AirPods, Apple Watch, recent iPhone generations, and the MacBook Neo. He's an engineer by training (UPenn mechanical engineering) and by reputation one of the more well-liked executives inside Apple.

A few things I'm thinking about:

• Cook's legacy is operations and scale. He took Apple from near-irrelevance to a $4 trillion company. Revenue nearly quadrupled on his watch. Hard act to follow.
• Ternus is product-first. This could be a meaningful cultural shift — back toward the engineering and hardware obsession that defined the Jobs era, without (hopefully) the chaos.
• The timing is interesting. Apple is navigating tariffs, AI chip shortages, a struggling Vision Pro, and geopolitical supply chain pressure. Ternus inherits a complicated inbox.
• Cook sticking around as executive chairman is either reassuring continuity or a sign the board wants a safety net. Probably both.

Personally I'm cautiously optimistic. Having an engineer in the CEO seat who's been building Apple's hardware for 25 years feels right for where the industry is heading. But Cook was also uniquely skilled at managing the macro stuff — trade policy, government relations, supply chains — and that skill set is going to be tested hard over the next few years.

What do you all think? Is this the leadership change Apple needed, or is this a risky moment to be changing the guard?

Got a lot of DMs after my comment in the Netflix offer thread. Figured I'd just make a post. All numbers are TC (total comp). Netflix pays all-cash — no traditional stock grants, so there's no equity cliff to wait on. Numbers are real, rounded slightly for anonymity.

Year	Base	Total Comp	YoY	Note
2019	$310K	$320K	—	Hired
2020	$335K	$345K	+7.8%	Annual review
2021	$375K	$390K	+13%	Competing offer (Google Director role)
2022	$435K	$450K	+15.4%	Promoted to Sr. Manager
2023	$495K	$510K	+13.3%	Market adjustment
2024	$560K	$580K	+13.7%	Another competing offer

Summary: Started at $320K TC in 2019, currently at $580K — an 81% increase over 6 years, averaging ~10.7% YoY.

TLDR takeaways: Netflix's all-cash model means you negotiate once and hard. Two of my biggest jumps came from having competing offers. The 2021 bump especially — that was Google trying to poach me for a Director role. Netflix matched plus a bit. If you're not shopping every 18 months, you're leaving money on the table. Happy to answer questions in the comments.

The internal tooling is getting genuinely capable and Jassy's recent messaging on AI and headcount hasn't exactly been reassuring. Curious how folks on other teams are thinking about this — overreaction or not?