Ternus takes mantle as Apple CEO | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

John Ternus became Apple’s CEO Tuesday, taking over from Tim Cook, who led the company for 15 years. Cook said the transition will be “perfectly smooth,” but Ternus inherits a period of high leadership churn. He must retain talent amid competition from firms such as OpenAI, while also differentiating his approach from Cook, who stays on as executive chair. The new CEO’s biggest challenge may be balancing the financial discipline of the Cook era with renewed product creativity, as Apple prepares for an annual hardware event this month expected to include a foldable iPhone—the company’s most significant iPhone change in 19 years—and further AI integration.