RIP Tim Apple, Silicon Valley reacts as Tim Cook steps down as CEO

Apple CEO Tim Cook is set to step down from his role later this year. The company announced that Cook will be succeeded by John Ternus, a senior vice president of hardware engineering at the Cupertino giant.

Cook led Apple for nearly 15 years, having taken the reigns from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 2011. During this period, he played a major role in the company’s growth. Apple’s market cap increased from $350 billion in 2011 to over $4 trillion today, making it one of the world’s most valuable companies.

Tim Cook will not leave Apple entirely. He will transition to the role of executive chairman on September 1, 2026. However, the announcement has been met with reactions across the world of tech, as an era comes to an end.

Reactions on Tim Cook stepping down as Apple CEO

Tech leaders have reacted to this news. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expressed his admiration towards Cook’s legacy on X. He wrote, "Tim Cook is a legend. I am very thankful for everything he has done and I am very thankful for Apple."

Oculus founder Palmer Luckey took a different approach. He wrote, “RIP Tim Apple,” referring to an incident in 2019 when US President Donald Trump accidentally addressed Tim Cook as “Tim Apple.” Luckey sold Oculus to Facebook for $2 billion at the age of 21.

Peter Oppenheimer, the former chief financial officer at Apple between 2004 and 2014, said, as quoted by the New York Times, “He stepped into the world’s biggest shoes — the biggest shoes that anybody on the planet has ever had to step into — and he’s done an amazing job.” Oppenheimer is one of the few Apple executives who worked under both Steve Jobs and Tim Cook at Cupertino.

Dipanjan Chatterjee, a principal analyst at research firm Forrestor, recognised that Cook managed to fill in the shoes of Steve Jobs. He said, as quoted by the Guardian, “Steve Jobs was never going to be an easy act to follow. Yet Tim Cook took Jobs’ legacy and transformed Apple into a durable, resilient financial powerhouse with explosive market-cap growth.”

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives reckoned that Cook’s departure came as a surprise. He wrote on X, “Apple is making a major transition on its AI strategy and longtime CEO and legendary Cook leaving now is a surprise.” Ives added, “We agree with Ternus as the pick.”

John Ternus is known for his work at Apple, having worked in the company for almost 25 years. He is also credited for spearheading Apple’s transition to in-house M-series of chipsets for MacBooks, instead of relying on Intel processors. As per Bloomberg, Ternus oversees development of products that bring in 80 per cent of Apple’s revenue.