Welcome to 9 to 5 Mac Daily for Monday, January 12th, 2026.

I'm your host, Chance Miller.

We are sponsored this week by Stuff, the clean and powerful to-do list app.

Leading off today, it's long been an open secret that John Ternis is a leading candidate to succeed Tim Cook as Apple CEO, following more than 14 years at the helm.

Bloomberg's Mark German has repeatedly reinforced that expectation over the last several years.

Now, the New York Times adds to the narrative with a detailed profile of Ternus that positions him as a frontrunner,

while also outlining

several alternative internal succession paths. The report says that three other potential CEO

candidates inside Apple include Eddie Q, Apple's head of services, Greg Joswiak, its head of worldwide

marketing, and Deirdre O'Brien, its head of retail and human resources.

The important thing to keep in mind here is that it would be irresponsible for Apple to not have multiple internal succession plans.

The company essentially needs backup plans if something were to happen to Tarnus, or if he were to decide that he no longer wanted the job.

The report also echoes what we've heard from other sources, including that Tim Cook has told

senior leaders that he has tired and would like to reduce his workload.

Because of this, Apple has been accelerating its succession plans for the CEO position.

Finally, the report also makes the obvious contrast,

where Tim Cook is known for his supply chain and operations genius,

while John Ternus is known internally as more of a product person.

It remains to be seen when Apple will actually publicly detail its succession planning for the first time,

but it certainly seems plausible that something might happen this year.

Next up today, in a new press release, Apple is celebrating the success of its services division

throughout 2025.

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