Tim Cook is no longer Apple CEO – what happened to the company over 15 years?

August 31, 2026, was Tim Cook’s last day as CEO of Apple. He led the company for just over 15 years after Steve Jobs stepped down in August 2011. Starting September 1, Apple’s new CEO will be John Ternus, who previously led the company’s hardware engineering division.

Cook will remain at Apple. He will assume the position of executive chairman of the board and continue to participate in the company’s operations, particularly in its relations with governments around the world.

From $350 billion to several trillion

When Tim Cook took over Apple in 2011, the company’s market capitalization was approximately $350 billion. By the end of his tenure as CEO, it had grown more than tenfold. Apple became the first publicly traded company to reach market capitalization milestones of $1 trillion, $2 trillion, and $3 trillion, and in recent years its value has hovered around $4-5 trillion.

Financial results have changed just as dramatically. In fiscal 2011, Apple generated $108 billion in revenue. In 2025, that figure exceeded $416 billion.

The company’s shares also rose approximately 23-fold on a split-adjusted basis. The day after Cook took office, one Apple share was worth approximately $13.35 when adjusted for subsequent stock splits, while in the summer of 2026 the price exceeded $300.

Over 15 years, Apple has returned more than $1 trillion to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks.

Apple no longer relies solely on device sales

One of the biggest changes of the Cook era was the growth of Apple’s services business. At the beginning of his tenure, the company’s main sources of revenue remained sales of the iPhone, Mac, and iPad.

In the following years, Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple Pay, Apple Card, Fitness+, Apple One, and other services appeared. The Services business itself has grown into a segment with annual revenue exceeding $100 billion.

The number of paid subscriptions across Apple services and third-party apps within the ecosystem has reached approximately 1.5 billion.

At the same time, Apple’s device ecosystem has also grown significantly. More than 2.5 billion active Apple devices are currently in use worldwide.

Apple Watch, AirPods, and Apple Silicon

Although Apple did not release a product under Tim Cook with an impact comparable to that of the original iPhone, the company created several major new product categories.

In 2015, the Apple Watch debuted, gradually evolving from an iPhone accessory into a standalone platform with a wide range of health and fitness features.

A year later, Apple introduced the AirPods. The wireless earbuds became one of the company’s most recognizable products and effectively established a major new device category within the Apple ecosystem.

Another important decision was the move away from Intel processors in Mac computers. In 2020, the company introduced the M1 chip, after which it gradually transitioned Macs to its own Apple Silicon processors.

The transition allowed Apple to gain full control over one of the key technologies behind its computers and significantly improve Mac performance per watt.

Under Cook, Apple Pay, AirTag, Apple Pencil, iPad Pro, and several new subscription services were also introduced.

Apple has become much larger

The company’s organization has also changed significantly. During Cook’s tenure, Apple’s workforce grew by more than 100,000 people. The company currently employs more than 150,000 people.

The number of Apple retail stores has exceeded 500, and the company’s products and services are available in more than 200 countries and territories.

During Cook’s tenure, the company sold approximately 3.1 billion iPhones. At the same time, the smartphone remains Apple’s most important individual product and accounts for a significant portion of its revenue.

Cook also significantly restructured Apple’s supply chain. The company has maintained a massive manufacturing base in China while increasingly shifting device production to other countries, primarily India.

Not all projects were successful

Despite the impressive financial results, there were also major failures. One of them was the automotive initiative Project Titan, which Apple worked on for about ten years.

The company spent billions of dollars on the project and changed its concept several times, but ultimately shut down its car development program entirely.

The Apple Vision Pro also failed to meet initial expectations. The headset, unveiled in 2023 and priced at $3,499, demonstrated Apple’s technical capabilities in mixed reality but never became a mass-market device.

One of the main criticisms of Apple in the final years of Cook’s tenure has been its lag in generative artificial intelligence.

Following the rapid development of ChatGPT, Gemini, and other AI services, the company introduced Apple Intelligence; however, the launch of several features was delayed. The new version of Siri proved particularly problematic, with its development postponed multiple times.

As a result, Apple had to work more closely with third-party AI model developers.

Who will lead Apple now

As of September 1, John Ternus becomes Apple’s chief executive officer. He has worked at Apple since 2001 and in recent years served as senior vice president of Hardware Engineering.

Ternus participated in the development of several generations of the iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch and played an important role in the launch of the iPad and AirPods. In 2021, he took charge of Apple’s entire hardware engineering organization.

The first major event under his leadership will take place shortly after the CEO transition. Therefore, Ternus will have virtually no time to settle into the role.

At the same time, he takes over a company in an exceptionally strong financial position but facing several serious strategic challenges. Apple needs to accelerate its development of artificial intelligence, reduce its manufacturing dependence on China, and find new device categories that can become the next major growth drivers after the iPhone.

Tim Cook will remain at Apple as executive chairman of the board, so the leadership transition will be gradual. However, starting September 1, direct management of the company will pass to a new person for the first time in 15 years.