Apple has appointed John Ternus (존 터너스), who has led its hardware projects, as its next CEO to succeed Tim Cook, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

Ternus will take charge from Sept. 1. Cook, Apple’s current CEO, is set to become chairman of the board.

Ternus joined Apple in 2001 and led engineering for the company’s core hardware lineup, including the iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods, Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro. From early this year, he has also overseen the design team in addition to hardware.

According to CNBC, Cook will remain CEO through this summer and carry out the handover with Ternus.

The CEO change is the first since Cook took over as CEO in 2011 after Steve Jobs. Ternus will become Apple’s eighth CEO.

Apple grew significantly during Cook’s tenure. Apple’s market capitalisation hit $4 trillion based on its closing price on Sunday, and revenue in the most recent fiscal year topped $400 billion.

Over the past 15 years or so, Cook led the launch of the Apple Watch, AirPods and Vision Pro and expanded the business into wearable devices. Cook joined Apple in 1998 as a worldwide sales and operations executive, later overhauled the supply chain and became Apple’s operations chief in 2005.