Is Tim Cook leaving Apple? Speculations arise ahead of the CEO’s 65th birthday

Reports of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s exit from Apple are grabbing a lot of attention. Notably, the rumors arrive at a time when the company has entered the final quarter of 2025, as per First Post.

The outlet stated that senior officials who have been a part of Apple for a long time are reportedly planning to leave the company in the ongoing period. However, it is a situation that never happened when Tim was serving as the head for all these years.

As of now, Tim Cook is not leaving, and he has not addressed anything about the same from his side. Moreover, the exit of some other officials is reported to be the beginning of a new phase of the company’s leadership, and it is expected to happen when Cook, who will turn 65 on November 1, resigns.

According to the Daily Mail, the position was originally supposed to be taken by COO Jeff Williams. But Jeff will be exiting in the upcoming year, and he has confirmed the same in July 2025.

While the rumors have continued to remain a topic of debate, the senior vice president of hardware engineering for the company, John Ternus, is speculated to take over as CEO. Fortune magazine stated that this is due to John’s contributions in different forms, including the transition of Mac to Apple Silicon.

Apart from that, Ternus has also started serving outside the department of hardware engineering, such as the strategic decisions usually taken by the senior officials. As of this writing, Apple has not commented anything about the ongoing reports.

Tim Cook’s replacement was suggested by certain experts earlier this year

The rumors of Cook’s exit from the company are trending a month before he celebrates his 65^th birthday in November. Notably, a few experts suggested a change in leadership with the replacement of Tim Cook back in July 2025.

The individuals were Walter Piecyk and Joe Galone, working as analysts for the popular research firm LightShed Partners, as per CNN. The duo said in a note to clients at the time that Apple needed a different person as the head who would focus on products instead of logistics.

Walter and Joe addressed the complications emerging due to the popularity of AI and said:

“AI will reshape industries across the global economy, and Apple risks becoming one of its casualties.”

On the other hand, Apple or Tim Cook did not respond to the claims of Walter and Joe at the time. However, a similar claim was made by the managing director and technology sector strategist of Baird, Ted Mortonson, who described Cook as a “supply chain guy” and said that Apple might already be involved in a lot of issues compared to what people are thinking.

The official website of Apple says that Cook was the COO of the company and handled the sales and operations, along with serving as the head of the Macintosh division. He previously served in other companies like Compaq, Intelligent Electronics, and IBM.