When former Apple CEO Steve Jobs handed over the reins to Tim Cook in 2011, he left him a simple piece of advice: “Never ask what I’m going to do. Just do what’s right.” After 15 years, that advice seems to have paid off. Under Cook, Apple’s market share rose more than 1,000 percent, and annual revenue nearly quadrupled, reaching $416 billion last year.
Now, as Cook prepares to step down, he is handing over his direction to John Ternus, a longtime Apple executive who will take over as CEO in September. Ternus, who joined Apple in 2011 and currently serves as senior vice president of hardware engineering, will inherit the company’s financial heyday—and new challenges, including defining Apple’s long-term AI strategy.
“For John, I think my advice — or what I told him — is that one of the most important decisions he’s going to make is where he’s going to spend his time, and I’m going to spend it where there’s the greatest benefit to the company and to the users,” Cook said during Apple’s second quarter call today (April 30). The incoming CEO should also remember that products that enrich lives remain Apple’s “north star,” Cook added.
Cook’s comments came as Apple beat Wall Street’s expectations for both revenue and profit. Sales for the quarter rose 17 percent year-over-year to $111.2 billion, and revenue rose 19 percent to $29.5 billion. The iPhone led the way, generating $56.9 billion in revenue, a 21 percent jump fueled by the March launch of the iPhone 17e. Cook called the iPhone 17 lineup “the most popular lineup in our history.”
Other segments also posted gains. Mac revenue rose 6 percent to $8.3 billion, supported in part by the launch of the affordable MacBook Neo. iPad sales rose 8 percent, while wearables, including the Apple Watch, grew 5 percent. Meanwhile, Apple’s services division, including Apple News and Apple TV, reached a record $31 billion in revenue.
According to Cook, Apple’s strong performance makes this the right time for a leadership change. “This transition period is the right one for many reasons: First, our business has been performing very well,” he said, pointing to the company’s current strengths and its future road. He also described Ternus as “a good leader, ready to step into the role.”
Ternus, for his part, praised Cook’s leadership style, highlighting his thoughtfulness, deliberateness and fiscal discipline. He said he plans to continue these qualities when he starts acting in September.
Nevertheless, Ternus will face significant challenges from day one. Chief among them is Apple’s position in the AI arms race. The company is under pressure to prove it can compete with Big Tech companies like Google and Microsoft. Its current approach of extracting “Apple Intelligence” and partially relying on third-party AI models has yet to gain full traction.
Asked about the monetization of AI, Cook pointed to Apple’s growing investment in research and development as a sign of its ambitions. R&D spending rose to $11.4 billion this quarter, up from $8.5 billion last year. “We invest in products and services, and we see opportunities in both,” Cook said. “We couldn’t be happier with how the future is playing out.”
