Jeff Williams Has Left the Building — Is Tim Cook Next?

Apple’s longstanding chief operating officer, Jeff Williams, spent his last official day at Apple Park on Friday before riding off into the sunset. This has sparked speculation about who may be next, and eyes are turning to Apple’s chief executive, Tim Cook.

Williams’ retirement was announced in July, although his ultimate departure wasn’t expected until later in the year. At that time, the COO reins moved to Sabih Khan, who had served as his deputy as senior vice president of operations. However, Williams’ responsibilities extended well beyond the usual COO role: he oversaw Apple’s design team, the Apple Watch, and the company’s health and fitness initiatives.

As a result, Williams became the Senior Vice President of Design, Watch, and Health to help smooth the transition of those portfolios, which were divvied up to a series of other executives in October: Apple Watch hardware engineering went to John Ternus, Senior VP of Hardware Engineering; watchOS to Craig Federighi, Senior VP of Software Engineering; and health and fitness shifted to Eddy Cue, Apple’s longtime Senior VP of Services. Meanwhile, the design team now reports directly to Apple CEO Tim Cook.

However, it remains to be seen how long that will last. The shift of design to the CEO is unusual, but no more so than it was when Apple placed it under the COO’s purview after Apple’s Chief Design Officer, Jony Ive, left the company in late 2019, so there’s no indication it will change — but the name on the door of the CEO’s office might.

Succession — Apple Style

According to the Financial Times, Apple is making preparations to name Cook’s successor, amid reports that the CEO could step down as early as next year.

It’s not the first time we’ve heard this. As we mentioned in October, there’s been speculation floating around for several years that Cook would step down in 2026. This was never backed up by any inside information and was likely prompted by simple math: Cook turns 65 next year. That’s a typical age for retirement, but hardly a necessary one, especially for a CEO who’s led a company past several trillion-dollar thresholds.

Some of the more outlandish speculation has even suggested that Cook might consider a presidential run, which would also make 2026 an ideal time to step down and pursue a political career. Again, this has zero basis in reality, although reliable reports from 2016 indicated Cook had been considered as a possible vice-presidential pick for Hillary Clinton, so his name has come up in political circles on at least one occasion.

While we’d still classify this as purely speculative fantasy, the Financial Times report is based on solid information from sources within Apple who say that the company’s upper echelons are making all the necessary preparations for Cook’s departure — even if they’re not entirely sure when that’s going to happen.

Apple’s executive shuffles have also sparked considerable debate among analysts and fans about who Cook’s successor could be. After all, it’s only the second time in the modern Apple era that we’ve had such a changing of the guard — and the first one was considerably more tragic, triggered by the failing health of the company’s legendary co-founder and CEO, Steve Jobs, who died of cancer only weeks after handing the company over to Cook.

That was still a planned succession, as Jobs had been struggling with his health for several years, and his most trusted senior executives and board members knew the writing was on the wall. Still, Jobs’ stature within Apple meant he had considerable influence in naming his successor, and it’s likely Cook was his hand-picked choice.

Choosing Cook’s successor is likely to be more of a group effort, and sources say no final decisions have been made.

Who Could Take the Helm?

Many observers see hardware chief John Ternus as the front-runner, partly because his relatively young age of 50 years makes him the most likely to have a longer run at the company’s helm, providing the necessary stability. However, Ternus is also among the most junior of Apple’s senior VPs, having been promoted into the position in early 2021 following the reassignment of his boss, Dan Riccio, to head a new secret project.

Apple’s senior executive ranks have several people with far more seniority, but they’re also closer to retirement. The longest-serving is Eddy Cue, who joined Apple in 1989 and has headed up the services division as a senior VP since 2011.

While Greg “Joz” Joswiak has been with the company since 1986, he didn’t enter the top level of Apple’s ranks until 2020, when he became senior VP of worldwide marketing after Phil Schiller, who had held that title since 1996, was elevated to the iconic role of “Apple Fellow.”

The only other Apple veteran among those ranks is Deirdre O’Brien, who joined Apple in 1988 but didn’t assume her current role as Senior VP of Retail and People until 2019. Still, age and tenure are a double-edged sword: Cue, Joz, and O’Brien are closer to retirement than they are to the beginning of a potential decade-plus CEO run.

Apple software chief Craig Federighi is seemingly another potential candidate, joining Apple in 1996 and being promoted to senior VP of software engineering in 2012. Apple also has several other senior VPs, but none of them are considered nearly as likely to be candidates for the top spot. Some are recent appointees with narrow portfolios, such as CFO Kevan Parekh, who took over from 10-year veteran Luca Maestri earlier this year — another departure that highlights the shifting landscape at the top of the company.

There’s also Katherine Adams, who joined in 2017 from outside and holds an SVP title primarily due to her role as general counsel, overseeing Apple’s legal affairs, and John Giannandrea, who came over from Google in 2018 to head up Apple’s AI efforts, but has reportedly fallen out of favor with Cook after his team failed to deliver on the promised Siri 2.0.

Of course, seniority should be the least of any company’s concerns when choosing the right CEO — and it certainly wasn’t the main factor for Apple. Tim Cook joined the company in 1998 as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Operations, a role that was expanded in 2000. He became the Chief Operating Officer in 2005 and served as acting CEO during periods when Jobs was away on medical leave. While Cook had a very solid background in operations, having come from IBM and Compaq before arriving at Apple, he also effectively blew past several others with more seniority, such as Schiller, Cue, and Apple’s former design chief, Jony Ive, who was one of Jobs’ closest creative partners.

It still remains an entirely open question when Tim Cook will decide to leave, and rumors of the company’s succession planning may be just that: rumors. Cook has previously said Apple has “very detailed succession plans,” which isn’t surprising, as no company the size of Apple wouldn’t. However, he’s also said on several occasions that he can’t imagine life without Apple; “I love it there and I can’t envision my life without being there so I’ll be there a while,” the Financial Times notes he told singer Dua Lipa on her podcast in November 2023.

Cook’s affection for Apple is genuine, and no one, either inside or outside the company, expects a sudden exit. Still, with the recent departures of Maestri and Williams and internal preparations reportedly underway, Apple is approaching a crossroads: the first serious CEO transition planning since 2011 — whether or not Cook decides to hand over the reins next year.