Apple's succession season is upon us, and the search for a new Chief Executive Officer may be nearing the final stage. For a multi-trillion-dollar company, choosing a CEO is a move that decides the faith of not only Apple as a company, but the entire tech sector and several supply chains. According to Mark Gurman's "Power On" newsletter on Bloomberg, the major candidate for the CEO position is John Ternus, Apple's senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, currently reporting to CEO Tim Cook. John has been with Apple since 2001 and has been the vice president of hardware engineering since 2013. He currently oversees hardware engineering behind iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods, and Vision Pro. Interestingly, John Ternus has been the key driver behind Apple's push from Intel-based MacBooks to Apple Silicon SoCs.

The shift became unmistakable this year when Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams stepped back from running operations in July and announced plans to leave before year-end. His imminent departure leaves CEO Tim Cook without a clear second-in-command and has intensified questions about succession at a company now valued at several trillion dollars. Executives across the business are being reassessed as Apple confronts strategic challenges in artificial intelligence, mixed reality, and other ambitious product areas where recent efforts have fallen short of expectations. Beyond Williams, several senior leaders are either reassessing their futures or operating with reduced responsibilities.