Apple (AAPL.US) has officially completed the “change of command”: Cook handed out the 4.6 trillion US dollar “Fangshen Questionnaire”, can Turners continue to write it?

The Zhitong Finance App learned that at 15:00 on September 1, 2026, Beijing time, Apple officially completed its first top management change since 2011. John Ternus (John Ternus), senior vice president of hardware engineering, succeeded Tim Cook (Tim Cook) as the company's eighth CEO, and Cook became the executive chairman of the board of directors. The “Leadership” page on Apple's official website was updated simultaneously on the same day.

This is not only Apple's largest transfer of power in 15 years, but also marks that the world's second-largest technology giant has officially moved from the “operatives” era to the “hardware faction” era.

Cook's “Fengshen” questionnaire: The market capitalization went from 350 billion to 4.6 trillion yuan, an increase of 2,275% recorded in the annals of history

What Cook left behind was a questionnaire that was enough to go down in the annals of business history. When they took over in 2011, Apple's market capitalization was less than 350 billion US dollars, and the annual sales volume of iPhones had just surpassed 70 million units. Fifteen years later, Apple's market capitalization has reached 4.6 trillion US dollars, second only to Nvidia's 5.2 trillion dollars. Since Cook took over, Apple's stock price has increased by a cumulative total of 2,275%, and the total return after dividends has reached 2,736%. The S&P 500 index rose 769% during the same period.

The financial numbers are just as impressive. Apple's annual revenue grew from US$157 billion in fiscal year 2012 to US$416 billion in fiscal year 2025; the service business grew from scratch to an independent sector with annual revenue exceeding US$109 billion. Shareholders were even more moved by the return on capital — Apple bought back a total of 877 billion US dollars of shares during Cook's tenure, making it the largest company in the world to repurchase, and the number of shares in circulation decreased by nearly 45% compared to the peak in 2012. The total amount returned to shareholders during the term was over 1 trillion US dollars. Before leaving office, Cook also approved a new round of $100 billion repurchase authorization and raised the quarterly dividend by 4% to $0.27.

“This job is the greatest pleasure of my life.” In his farewell letter, Cook wrote, “I'm looking forward to John's leadership.” He said farewell on social media: “On my last day as CEO, I sent my deep love to the Apple community.”

The head of the “hardware faction”: the engineering genes of 25-year-old veteran Turners

Turners, 50, is the same age as Cook when he took over. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997, majoring in mechanical engineering, and joined the Apple product design team in 2001. Starting with the Mac external display, he led the entire hardware engineering system for AirPods, Macs, iPads, iPhones, and the entire hardware engineering system.

The biggest advantage is supply chain and hardware discipline. He once ran to the supplier's factory late at night to check the screws with a magnifying glass. He discovered that the screw had 35 grooves and 25 specifications. He argued with the supplier on the spot. This extreme pursuit of detail is a key characteristic that Cook has long observed and acknowledged. Expert analysis points out that Turners is a “stable security card” — his deep control over hardware is the core foundation for Apple to maintain high gross profit.

One detail is enough to get a glimpse of his engineering mentality: the MacBook Neo he built put the iPhone's A18 chip into the laptop, lowered the price of the product to an unprecedented 4,000 yuan range, and created a rare hit. He is a key driver of Apple's self-developed chip strategy (Apple Silicon), and has been deeply involved in the entire process of Mac switching from Intel processors to self-developed chips.

From Jobs' design and Cook's operations to Turners' engineering, the characteristics of the three generations of Apple's leaders have drawn a clear dark line — the company is becoming more and more like a product empire driven by hardware engineers.

Apple's supplier ecosystem

The change in Apple's CEO may also have an impact on key suppliers including Foxconn, TSM.US (TSM.US), Broadcom (AVGO.US), Qualcomm (QCOM.US), Micron (MU.US), and Corning (GLW.US). After John Turners took office, Apple's increased investment in the field of artificial intelligence, new product launches, or initiatives such as switching to self-developed components may reshape the spending pattern of its entire supply chain.

Turners' “Three Mountains”: Backward AI, Brain Drain, and Supply Chain Changes

Although Apple, which Turners took over, had a market capitalization of 4.6 trillion US dollars, it faced structural challenges not encountered during the Cook era.

First, AI is seriously lagging behind. In the field of generative AI, Apple's layout is clearly lagging behind. After ChatGPT sparked the AI boom at the end of 2022, although Apple began large-scale investment, the first version of the Apple Intelligence software did not perform well. Last year, Apple made a more controversial decision — abandoning the self-developed model route and paying for Google Gemini technology as the underlying foundation for the new version of Siri, triggering strong dissatisfaction among the internal big language model team, and many core members left their jobs one after another. The new version of Siri AI will be fully launched in September, and it is still unknown whether it can reverse market word of mouth.

Compared to Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI actively integrating AI into consumer and enterprise products, Apple's pace is clearly more cautious and is facing increasing pressure to catch up. Turners must lead Apple to make key choices in the field of AI — increasing investment in R&D, increasing capital expenditure, and even large-scale mergers and acquisitions.

Second, the brain drain has intensified. Hundreds of former Apple employees currently work in the OpenAI hardware department. Apple has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing OpenAI of stealing trade secrets. About half of Apple's executive team is likely to leave within the next few years. To retain key talent, Turners has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional bonuses to several members of the iPhone design team and personally intervened to retain them.

Third, supply chain changes. Apple's long-term procurement commitments are close to 57 billion US dollars, while the four largest global cloud service providers have procurement commitments of about 2 trillion US dollars. Apple's book debt of $56.2 billion will expire in a year. Meanwhile, Chinese DRAM manufacturer Changxin Storage already accounts for about 11% of global DRAM production, making it a new option available in Apple's supply chain.

Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan predicts that Apple's abandonment of the net cash neutral target “may indicate that Apple will increase R&D investment, capital expenditure, and larger mergers and acquisitions for some time to come.”

“Debut” on September 10: The ultimate test of folding screen iPhones and new Siri AI

Less than 10 days after Turners took office, he will face his first major test. Apple has announced that it will hold an autumn product launch at 1 a.m. on September 10, Beijing time. The theme is “Surprise and Shine” (Surprise and Shine). This will be Turners' first major public appearance as CEO.

The market generally expects that this press conference will break the pace of Apple's iPhone launch that has continued for more than ten years — there is no iPhone 18 standard version, leaving only the iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max, and the first folding screen iPhone. The folding screen device is expected to use a horizontal book-style folding design. When unfolded, the inner screen is about 7.8 inches, and the outer screen is about 5.5 inches. All three new models will be equipped with the first 2nm A20 Pro chip.

The success or failure of the folding iPhone will directly affect whether Apple can boost average sales prices and gross profit margins through new types of products, especially as global memory and chip costs continue to rise.

The more critical point is that the new version of Siri AI — the voice assistant positioned as a direct competitor to ChatGPT, can reverse the long-term market reputation of Siri being “not easy to use” and will directly determine the market's confidence in Apple's AI strategy.

IDC expects Apple to occupy 40% of the folding device market by the end of 2027. At the same time, a new generation of AI-powered Siri will also be officially unveiled in iOS 27.

Overvaluation ceiling: “Turners premium” at 33 times price-earnings ratio

When Turners took over, Apple's valuation was at an all-time high. The current price-earnings ratio is about 33 times, well above the 10-year average of 23 times — and it was only 12 times when Cook took over.

This means that the market has paid a high “expected premium” for Turners. He needed AI breakthroughs, new product success, and continued return on capital to meet this valuation. Bank of America maintains a “buy” rating for Apple, and the core business is expected to remain stable, while Turners may consider increasing the AI budget.

SA columnist Envision Research maintains confidence in Turners, arguing that the company can maintain a “profitability and shareholder return mechanism,” and points out that “the potential for excess earnings is due to the double merger mechanism — increased earnings per share and active share repurchases.”

Wall Street has a positive view of this CEO handover as a whole. Apple's current analyst consensus rating is “Moderate Buy,” with an average target price of $338.99.

Bank of America maintains a “buy” rating and a target price of $380, based on an estimated earnings per share of 37 times the price-earnings ratio of $10.32 for the calendar year 2027. Analyst Wamsi Mohan believes core hardware revenue will remain stable, and Turners will evaluate the possibility of increasing the AI infrastructure budget. The Bank of America pointed out that Apple's abandonment of the net cash neutral target “may indicate increased R&D investment, capital expenditure, and larger mergers and acquisitions.”

Citi maintains a “buy” rating and a target price of $315. J.P. Morgan Chase had a “positive opinion” on this handover and maintained a “gain” rating.

However, high valuations have become the biggest concern in the market. Apple's current valuation is much higher than the average of the past ten years. Moffett Nathanson analyst Craig Moffett warned that high valuation multiples mean that if the product cycle slows down, downside risks will be amplified. The current stock price is about 11.36% higher than GF Value's valuation, leaving very limited room for fault tolerance during the transition period.