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Cook’s leadership perfected Apple’s production – but Chinese workers paid the price.
On September 1, 2026, Tim Cook will hand over control of Apple to John Ternus. He leaves behind one of the most efficient manufacturing systems in consumer electronics, one he helped build as operations chief from 1998.
In China, Cook leaves a second, but related, legacy: workers on Apple lines toiling 60 hours a week or more, often without a rest day and depending on overtime to cover the basic cost of living.
Ternus will have to decide how to handle both of these realities.
