Apple announced Monday that CEO Tim Cook will step down from his role on September 1, with John Ternus, the company's senior vice president of hardware engineering, taking over as chief executive. Cook will remain with the company as executive chairman of the board of directors.

The transition ends Cook's nearly 15-year tenure as CEO, during which he led Apple to unprecedented growth following his succession of company founder Steve Jobs in 2011. Under Cook's leadership, Apple's market value increased by more than $3.6 trillion, with the company now valued at approximately $4 trillion and annual revenue more than quadrupling during his time as CEO.

Ternus, who will also join Apple's board of directors, has overseen the company's hardware engineering division and played a key role in developing Apple's product lineup. As part of the leadership reorganization, Apple also announced that Johny Srouji has been appointed as chief hardware officer, effective immediately, stepping into the role previously held by Ternus.

"It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple and to have been trusted to lead such an extraordinary company," Cook said in a statement. "I love Apple with all of my being, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with a team of such ingenious, innovative, creative, and deeply caring people."

The 65-year-old Cook joined Apple in 1998 and inherited the CEO position during a period when the iPhone had already established Apple as a dominant force in consumer technology. His leadership transition follows a similar pattern to other tech executives like Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Netflix's Reed Hastings, who stepped down from CEO roles while remaining involved as executive chairmen.