Who are the main candidates to replace Tim Cook as Apple CEO?

Investing.com -- Apple’s succession planning is moving into sharper focus as Tim Cook, now 65, approaches the later stages of a tenure marked by scale, operational discipline and consistent earnings growth.

In its latest assessment, JPMorgan said that conversations around leadership transition have intensified, with press reports suggesting the company is preparing a long, carefully managed handover.

“Succession planning has long been a question on top of investor minds given that investors have associated Tim Cook’s tenure as Apple CEO with robust execution and operational excellence that helped scale the company, posting mid-teens EPS growth over a long period of one and a half decades,” the bank’s analysts led by Samik Chatterjee wrote.

The team points to John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, as the leading internal candidate. At age 50, Ternus oversees hardware engineering across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods and other devices, and has played a central role in the transition of the Mac to Apple silicon.

He joined Apple in 2001 after working in virtual reality and has held senior hardware roles since 2013.

Ternus has become increasingly visible at major product events, JPMorgan noted, including introducing the iPhone Air at the latest launch, and sees him as “the most likely successor to the CEO role upon Tim Cook’s retirement.”

His profile aligns with what the bank sees as Apple’s next phase: an intensified push to open new product categories amid rising competition to define the next major computing form factor.

Elevating a product-focused leader would be seen as “a sign of further emphasis on innovation and focus towards launching new product categories,” analysts said, particularly as the industry races toward platforms that could support widescale AI consumption.

Beyond the CEO role, JPMorgan expects broader leadership changes over the coming years. The average age of Apple’s executive team is around 59, and only Ternus and the recently appointed CFO Kevan Parekh sit at the younger end of the group.

A measured reshuffle is likely, with Cook potentially moving into a chairman role given the current chair’s age and the company’s past precedent.

“We expect a slow and steady reshuffle across the broader top leadership over the next few years, with CEO succession being the most watched transition,” the analysts wrote.

For investors, the central question is continuity. Cook’s era included major category launches such as the Watch, AirPods and VisionPro; expansion into services; revenue growth at roughly 10% annually; and a climb in market value from under $400 billion to $4 trillion.

“Tim Cook’s era of unmatched scaling at Apple presents big shoes to fill,” the analysts said.