San Francisco, April 22 -- San FranciscoApple CEO Tim Cook will hand the reins to hardware boss John Ternus later this year, capping a 15-year tenure that turned the company into a business worth $4 trillion that spans watches, video streaming and financial services. Ternus will become CEO on Sept. 1, when Cook will transition to executive chairman, the company said in a statement Monday. Ternus, 50, has served as head of hardware engineering since 2021 and spent 25 years focused on product development at the iPhone maker. Ternus must now chart a new path for one of Silicon Valley's most storied businesses at a challenging moment. Though Apple's growth remains strong, the company has struggled to catch up in artificial intelligence - technology that promises to transform the way consumers use devices. "John Ternus has the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity and with honor," Cook said in the statement. "He is a visionary whose contributions to Apple over 25 years are already too numerous to count, and he is without question the right person to lead Apple into the future." Ternus is a "Tim Jr" in style and he's likely going to "continue to run the show the way Tim did," said the executive, who asked not to be identified in order to speak candidly. Ternus isn't a Steve Jobs-like showman, the person said. "He's not a marketing ace. But he's a product guy who is also politically savvy." Like Cook, Ternus is "probably not the guy who's going to risk it all," according to the person. Investors largely took the announcement in stride. After dipping nearly 2% in late trading, the shares pared their losses. They were down less than 0.5% to $271.70 by Monday evening in New York. Apple shares have gained roughly 2,000% since Cook took the CEO job in August 2011. In the new executive chairman role, Cook will be engaging with policymakers around the world, Apple said. The 65-year-old CEO already oversees Apple's relationship with US President Donald Trump and often travels to China to manage the company's ties with that country. As part of the transition, longtime Chairman Art Levinson will become lead independent director. When he steps down as CEO, Cook will have served a record 15 years in the position. Over that span, he helped build on the success of the Mac and iPhone by pushing into health services, smartwatches and earbuds. Annual sales almost quadrupled to $416 billion in the last fiscal year, and Apple now touts an active installed base of more than 2.5 billion devices. During the Cook era, the company introduced larger iPhones, multiple new iPads, and services like Apple Music and Apple TV. But there have also been flops, including the Vision Pro headset and a failed attempt to build a self-driving car. The Cupertino, California-based company spent a decade working on both. Cook's tenure also was mired by misfires in artificial intelligence. OpenAI, Anthropic PBC, Alphabet Inc.'s Google and others have launched world-changing AI products while Apple has largely sat on the sidelines....