In 1997, two students graduated from the University of Pennsylvania.

One was Elon Musk. The other, who assumed the role of Apple's new CEO on September 1st this year, is John Ternus.

Prior to this appointment, few could recall his name, much like the other six CEOs of Apple who served between Jobs and Cook.

Apple has seen a total of eight CEOs. Notably, Jobs became Apple's interim CEO in September of the year John Ternus graduated. Subsequently, at an industry conference, Dell founder Michael Dell was posed with a question: "If you were Jobs, how would you save Apple?"

His response was blunt: "I'd shut it down and return the money to shareholders."

Jobs took note of this slight. Over a month later, he publicly retaliated. At an event attended by approximately 2,000 Apple employees, users, and reporters in November of the same year, Jobs projected a massive image of Michael Dell onto a large screen, with a bullseye superimposed. The reason was straightforward: Jobs had requested Dell to retract his statement about shutting down Apple, but Dell refused. Consequently, Apple simply identified Dell as a competitive target.

At that time, Apple was mired in an operational crisis, while Dell was experiencing rapid growth and stood as a leading company in the PC industry. It seemed nearly impossible for Apple to catch up with or surpass Dell.

Interestingly, this narrative had a sequel nine years later. In January 2006, Apple's market value surpassed Dell's for the first time: Apple stood at around $72.13 billion, while Dell was at approximately $71.97 billion. Jobs promptly sent an email to all Apple employees, revisiting the 1997 incident. The email was succinct, containing just one sentence: "Guys, it turns out Michael Dell isn't so accurate at predicting the future."

Another year passed, and Jobs took the stage in San Francisco to unveil the first-generation iPhone. From that moment on, Apple and Dell ceased to be direct competitors. Apple began to expand its battlefield from computers to mobile phones, software, and the entire consumer electronics realm, becoming the benchmark for the entire tech industry.

Jobs also transitioned from a crisis firefighter to Apple's legendary CEO.

When a company is strongly associated with a singular figure, outsiders inevitably raise doubts: "What if Jobs were to depart one day? What would become of Apple?" Later, this question was directed at Tim Cook.

01 Jobs' Name Still Graces the Door

Three years after becoming Apple's CEO, Cook occasionally visited Jobs' office and sat for a while.

Jobs' office on the fourth floor of Apple's headquarters remained untouched, with his name still on the door. By this point, Cook no longer reported to Jobs, but he still had to constantly address questions about Jobs: Could Apple still create surprising products? Did his successor truly possess the vision for the future?

Jobs was well aware of Cook's strengths. He told biographer Walter Isaacson that Cook excelled in operations and might even surpass him in negotiating skills. However, he added that Cook was not a typical product person.

Then, he entrusted Apple to this individual.

On September 1, 2026, Tim Cook stepped down as Apple's CEO. Fifteen years earlier, when he took over from Steve Jobs, Apple's market value was about $350 billion. By the time he handed over the reins to John Ternus, Apple's market value had soared to about $4 trillion.

Rewinding to 2001: Jobs was at the helm of Apple; Cook, who joined in 1998, was in charge of operations; and Ternus had just joined the product design team. The individuals we later categorized into three distinct eras had worked together at the same company for about a decade.

During the first succession, people were concerned that they couldn't detect the "Jobs" influence in Cook; for the second succession, they began to anticipate what set Ternus apart from Cook.

However, when he sat across from Jobs back then, Cook hadn't pondered these matters deeply.

02 The Other Side of Cook, the Affable Leader

In 1998, a headhunter approached Cook and inquired if he was interested in joining Apple.

Cook posed a question to the headhunter: "Why would I leave the world's leading computer company to join Apple?"

At that time, Cook had just joined Compaq, one of the largest computer manufacturers globally, while Apple was struggling with continuous losses and appeared precarious.

The headhunter responded candidly: "Don't you want to meet Jobs?"

Cook was swayed. Less than five minutes into his interview with Jobs, he decided to join Apple.

Upon joining Apple, one of the initial challenges he tackled was inventory management. He began closing warehouses, reducing inventory, outsourcing more production to external manufacturers, and keeping assembly in Asia as much as possible. Sales forecasts were updated weekly, production plans adjusted daily, and inventory rapidly decreased under his management.

In fiscal year 1997, Apple still had $437 million tied up in inventory. By the end of fiscal year 1998, it was only $78 million. After another quarter, it further dropped to $25 million, roughly equivalent to two days' inventory.

In Cook's view, electronic products were akin to milk—the longer they were stored, the more likely they were to depreciate.

Indeed, Cook proved to be the nemesis of inventory.

Contrary to the "affable leader" image he consistently projects with a smile and a handshake during his visits to China, Cook possesses another side within Apple—rational, restrained, and extremely demanding. He rarely loses his temper in meetings and seldom displays overt emotions. What truly makes people uneasy is his relentless questioning. If an answer lacks specificity, a second, third, and fourth question often follow... until the problem is fully exposed and resolved.

During an operations meeting discussing issues with Asian suppliers, he believed that someone had to go to China to resolve the problem on-site. The meeting continued for about half an hour. Cook then turned to Sabih Khan, who was in charge of the relevant business, and asked, "Why are you still here?" Khan then left the meeting room, drove to the airport, and flew directly to China without even packing a change of clothes.

For Cook, who was in the meeting, half an hour of waiting was too long when the problem was already laid bare before them.

03 Jobs: 'Do What You Think Is Right'

Before becoming Jobs' successor, Cook once offered to be his liver donor.

In 2009, Jobs' condition deteriorated. After Cook visited him, he went to the hospital for a check-up and discovered that his blood type matched Jobs', making him a potential liver donor. So, Cook approached Jobs with his idea. Before he could finish speaking, Jobs interrupted him: "No, I will never let you do that." Cook later recalled that in their 13 years of acquaintance, Jobs had only become truly angry with him four or five times. This was one of those instances.

Two years later, Jobs summoned Cook to his home again. This time, he wanted Cook to take over as CEO.

When discussing the succession, Jobs cited the example of Walt Disney. In his view, after Walt's death, Disney Company found itself in a quandary: people were always discussing what Walt would have done if he were still alive. They spent too much time speculating on the founder's ideas and delayed making their own decisions.

Jobs didn't want Apple to follow that path. His advice to Cook was straightforward: "Don't ask what I would do. Do what you think is right." And Cook believed at the time that Jobs would continue to serve as chairman, and he would handle the CEO's responsibilities, and the two could collaborate in this manner for many more years. After all, Jobs had survived several previous health deteriorations.

On August 24, 2011, Jobs officially resigned as CEO and recommended Cook as his successor. Six weeks later, Jobs passed away.

Those matters he originally thought he could still consult Jobs about now required Cook to make decisions independently.

Later, Cook publicly apologized for the errors in Apple Maps and decided to spend $3 billion to acquire Beats. During his tenure, Apple launched the Apple Watch and AirPods. In 2020, it announced that Mac would gradually phase out Intel processors and switch to self-developed chips. One of the key figures driving this transition in the hardware team was John Ternus.

At that time, Ternus had been with Apple for nearly two decades. A few years later, Cook decided to pass the baton to him.

04 Ternus, Before Becoming CEO

When Ternus first joined Apple, he was unsure if he was qualified. His colleagues were intelligent, confident, and possessed far more knowledge than he did. When he encountered something he didn't understand, he would ask.

But in front of suppliers, this newcomer was also unwilling to yield.

In his first year at Apple, one day after midnight, Ternus was still in the factory, using a magnifying glass to count the grooves on a screw head. The design requirement was 25, but the supplier had made it 35. For the extra ten grooves, he argued with the supplier. This was his first project at Apple, the Cinema Display. The screws were installed on the back of the display, and the concentric circles on them were supposed to shine like a CD under the light.

In the midst of the argument, he suddenly paused and thought, "What am I doing? Is this (worth it)?"

When he spoke at his alma mater in 2024, Ternus still remembered that night. He had already spent several months on this display. Customers might not notice the screws on the back, but he hoped that he and his colleagues had meticulously completed every detail.

About three years after joining Apple, Ternus became a manager. During that time, the team moved to a new office floor. Most of the new space consisted of open workstations, with only a few independent offices. As a newly promoted manager, Ternus could have been assigned an office, but he declined and continued to sit with the team.

His former supervisor, Steve Zadeh, believed that sitting among colleagues helped Ternus manage and motivate the team. When talking about this subordinate who had been promoted all the way, he used a very simple evaluation: "He's a guy who gets along with everyone."

Subsequently, the team Ternus was responsible for grew larger and larger. In 2021, he was promoted to Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, reporting directly to Cook. Apple mentioned in the appointment announcement that he had been responsible for the hardware engineering of products such as the first-generation AirPods and was also one of the key figures driving Mac's transition to Apple's self-developed chips.

Five years later, it was his turn to take over as CEO. From worrying about his qualifications when he first joined to assuming leadership of the entire company, Ternus had been with Apple for 25 years.

On September 1st of this year, he posted his first update on X, with just one word: "hello."

Musk replied below: "Congrats!"

In Conclusion:

In 1998, Cook decided to join Apple less than five minutes after meeting Jobs. Almost everyone around him thought he was crazy. But he still went, and to this day, Cook has been with Apple for 28 years.

In 2026, it was his turn to introduce his successor to the outside world: John Ternus.

For many, Ternus is still a name they need to look up to remember. Cook has worked with him for 25 years and has witnessed his journey from a member of the product design team to the head of Apple's hardware engineering.

When announcing the succession arrangement, Cook wrote an open letter. Speaking of Ternus, he wrote, "I can't wait for you to get to know him as well as I do."