According to Fortune, Apple is undergoing its biggest leadership shakeup since Steve Jobs died, with over half a dozen key executives headed for the exits by 2026. On Thursday, the company announced the retirements of VP Lisa Jackson and General Counsel Kate Adams, joining AI chief John Giannandrea and design lead Alan Dye, who was just poached by Meta. This follows the earlier announced departures of COO Jeff Williams and CFO Luca Maestri in July and August, respectively. CEO Tim Cook is also expected to retire in 2026, having grown Apple’s market cap from $350 billion to $4 trillion. The company has named hardware engineering chief John Ternus as the leading internal candidate to succeed Cook, a major shift from its operational-focused leadership of the past decade.
The Cook Succession And A Strategic Pivot
Here’s the thing: replacing Tim Cook was always going to be a monumental task. But the scale of this executive exodus turns a CEO transition into a complete top-tier rebuild. Choosing John Ternus, the SVP of Hardware Engineering, is a huge signal. For over a decade, Apple has been led by an operations and supply chain maestro in Cook. Ternus represents a pivot back to a product-focused, technical leader. That makes sense when you look at Apple’s current pain points: the struggling AI efforts and the challenge of entering new hardware categories like the Vision Pro. The board is basically betting that the next decade requires a builder-in-chief, not just an optimizer-in-chief. It’s a fascinating gamble.
Meta Is Eating Apple’s Lunch
Now, the poaching by Meta isn’t just corporate rivalry—it’s a targeted assault. Meta snagging design lead Alan Dye and senior director Billy Sorrentino is a direct shot at Apple’s core identity: user experience and interface design. Even more damaging was the July exit of Ruoming Pang, head of the AI Foundation Models Team, who took about 100 engineers with him. When you add in other AI leads who defected, it paints a picture of a brain drain in the most critical area of modern tech. John Gruber, over at Daring Fireball, wrote a scathing take on Dye’s tenure, suggesting the design team is actually relieved. But the fact that Meta sees so much value in Apple’s talent, especially in AI, should be a massive red flag in Cupertino.
The Replacement Brigade
So who’s stepping into these giant roles? The replacements are telling. For General Counsel, Apple is bringing in Jennifer Newstead from Meta—a classic poach-back, consolidating legal and government affairs into one role. For design, Stephen Lemay, a veteran on the UI team since 1999, is taking over, which reportedly has the team “giddy.” And in the most critical move, AI chief John Giannandrea is being replaced by Amar Subramanya, a 16-year Google AI vet. Look, these are all qualified people. But it underscores a reactive phase. They’re plugging holes with external expertise (Google, Meta) in areas where homegrown talent either left or fell short. The real test is whether this new team can gel and execute under a new CEO.
A Fundamentally Different Apple
By 2026, the executive team that built Apple into a $4 trillion company will be gone. Think about that. The transformation will be as profound as when Jony Ive left, or even when Jobs handed the reins to Cook. Can Ternus inspire like a product visionary while managing a supply chain behemoth? Can Subramanya build an AI moat that’s been leaking for years? And can the new design leadership maintain that magical feel as AI potentially rewrites the rules of interaction? This isn’t just a succession plan; it’s a bet on Apple’s entire future identity. The era of the steady, operational hand is over. The next act is about invention under immense pressure—and the whole tech world will be watching to see if they can pull it off.
