Apple's Tim Cook to step down as CEO

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple's Tim Cook will step down as the California tech giant's chief executive this year, handing the top job to a company veteran as it navigates a technology landscape being upended by AI.

The 65-year-old Cook, who ran Apple for 15 years after taking the reins from its visionary co-founder Steve Jobs, will be succeeded by John Ternus, a senior vice-president of hardware engineering.

The announcement on Monday answered long-simmering questions about a successor for Cook, who said he will step down in September to become executive board chairman.

"It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple and to have been trusted to lead such an extraordinary company," Cook said in a statement.

He joined Apple in 1998, rising through the ranks and helping drive its success as chief operating officer coordinating the iPhone maker's complex supply chain.

He became chief executive in 2011 after Jobs left because of health issues.

$4 trillion value

Cook is credited with expanding Apple's product line and ramping up the company's value to around $4 trillion based on current share prices.

"Tim's unprecedented and outstanding leadership has transformed Apple into the world's best company," outgoing board chairman Arthur Levinson said in the statement.

"His integrity and values are infused into everything Apple does," he said.

Ternus joined Apple's product design team in 2001 and became a senior vice-president of hardware engineering over the course of the following two decades.

He is credited with playing roles in an array of products, including iPhones, iPads, the Apple Watch and Mac computers.

"Having spent almost my entire career at Apple, I have been lucky to have worked under Steve Jobs and to have had Tim Cook as my mentor," Ternus said in the statement.

Agencies via Xinhua