Cook spent 15 years taking Apple from a company with a market value of about $350 billion to $4 trillion. Now, he's handing over the CEO position to a hardware engineer who's been with Apple for 25 years. Starting September 1, John Ternus will officially take over as Apple's CEO, while Cook transitions to Executive Chairman. Ternus has been involved in almost all of Apple's core hardware products, including the iPad, AirPods, Mac, iPhone, and Apple Watch. The most interesting part of this handover is that while the whole world is chasing AI, Apple didn’t choose an AI superstar, a software genius, or an external hire. Instead, they picked someone who’s been responsible for actually building the products. Clearly, Apple believes that what it needs right now isn’t more AI stories, but someone who can integrate AI back into hardware, the supply chain, and the user experience.