{"id":23120,"date":"2026-09-06T18:02:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T17:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/?p=23120"},"modified":"2026-09-06T18:51:06","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T17:51:06","slug":"the-apple-event-without-tim-cook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/2026\/09\/06\/the-apple-event-without-tim-cook\/","title":{"rendered":"The Apple Event Without Tim Cook"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There\u2019s going to be a moment during Apple\u2019s event on Wednesday that feels strangely unfamiliar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim Cook won\u2019t be there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

According to Mark Gurman, Apple\u2019s September 9 event video<\/a> won\u2019t feature Cook at all. He\u2019ll reportedly be at Apple Park watching the event, but for the first time in 15 years<\/strong>, he won\u2019t be the person introducing us to Apple\u2019s biggest new products. (AppleInsider<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, that job belongs to John Ternus<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And honestly, I think that\u2019s going to make this Apple event feel very different<\/em> before we\u2019ve even seen a single new iPhone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve become so used to Cook appearing at the beginning of Apple events<\/a>, walking onto the stage, delivering the familiar \u201cGood morning\u201d <\/em>and setting the tone for what\u2019s coming next<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even when he wasn\u2019t presenting every product himself, his presence was part of the ritual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Tim Cook shown as presenting at an Apple event – UA.News<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s now changing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ternus officially became Apple\u2019s CEO on September 1, taking over from Cook after 15 years. His first major appearance as CEO comes just eight days later, at what could be one of the biggest Apple events in years<\/a> \u2014 potentially introducing the first foldable iPhone<\/a><\/strong> alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and new Apple Watch models. (Forbes<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The timing feels almost symbolic.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Cook\u2019s final chapter<\/a> and Ternus\u2019 first chapter<\/a> are effectively meeting in the same week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while Cook isn\u2019t disappearing from Apple \u2014 he remains executive chairman and is expected to continue playing an important role behind the scenes \u2014 removing him from the event video makes the transition feel much more real. (MacRumors<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t Tim Cook handing the presentation over for one night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is Apple beginning to show us what Apple looks like without Tim Cook as its CEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Cook and Ternus at Apple Town Hall
– Mark Gurman on X<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m particularly curious about the atmosphere<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will Ternus feel immediately comfortable in that role? Will Apple\u2019s presentation style change? Will he bring more of his own personality to these events? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

— Or will Apple deliberately keep everything feeling exactly the same, with only the person delivering the words changing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because that\u2019s the fascinating thing about Apple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For years, the company has perfected the art of making change feel familiar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But on Wednesday, one of the most familiar faces in Apple\u2019s history … won\u2019t be on our screens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The products might be the headline. But for the first time in 15 years, the person introducing them – is the story, <\/em>too<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s going to be a moment during Apple\u2019s event on Wednesday that feels strangely unfamiliar. Tim Cook won\u2019t be there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2786,174,800,16],"tags":[4,934,3501,3541,3567,3537,2873,3176,3539],"class_list":["post-23120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apple-blog","category-blog","category-featured","category-iphone","tag-apple","tag-apple-event","tag-iphone","tag-iphone-fold","tag-iphone-ultra","tag-john-ternus","tag-presenting","tag-stage","tag-tim-cook"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23120"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23134,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23120\/revisions\/23134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}