Daring Fireball t-shirts and hoodies are back. Order now, and we’ll start printing shirts at the end of this week and shipping them out next week. Go ahead and place your order now, while I gather my thoughts about today’s Apple leadership news.

Tim Cook, in a letter addressed, simply, “To the Apple community”:

For the past 15 years I’ve started just about every morning the same way. I open my email and I read notes I received the day before from Apple’s users all over the world.

You share little pieces of your lives with me and tell me things you want me to know about how Apple has touched you. About the moment your mom was saved by her Apple Watch. About the perfect selfie you captured at the summit of a mountain that seemed impossible to climb. You thank me for the ways Mac has changed what you can do at work and sometimes give me a hard time because something you care about isn’t working like it should.

In every one of those emails I feel the beating heart of our shared humanity. I feel a sense of deepening obligation to work harder and push further. But most of all, I feel a gratitude that I cannot put into words, that I somehow got to be the person on the other end of those emails, the leader of a company that ignites imaginations and enriches lives in such profound ways it defies description. What an honor and a privilege it has been.

The language here feels looser, more casual, more real than anything Cook has said or written in public since his historic, seminal coming-out essay at Businessweek back in 2014.

Just a wonderful note. This feels like a very happy day for Tim Cook.

Apple Newsroom, with a veritable “boom”:

Apple announced that Tim Cook will become executive chairman of Apple’s board of directors and John Ternus, senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, will become Apple’s next chief executive officer effective on September 1, 2026. The transition, which was approved unanimously by the Board of Directors, follows a thoughtful, long-term succession planning process.

Cook will continue in his role as CEO through the summer as he works closely with Ternus on a smooth transition. As executive chairman, Cook will assist with certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers around the world.

Ternus will become the 8th CEO in Apple’s 50-year history:

1. Mike Scott, 1977–1981
2. Mike Markkula, 1981–1983
3. John Sculley, 1983–1993
4. Michael Spindler, 1993–1996
5. Gil Amelio, 1996–1997
6. Steve Jobs, 1997–2011
7. Tim Cook, 2011–2026

At just over 50 years old — the same age Cook was when he took the job — Ternus is young enough for decade-plus run, joining only Sculley, Jobs, and Cook.

In a separate announcement: “Johny Srouji Named Apple’s Chief Hardware Officer”.

This is all very exciting, but also all very low on drama. It’s all very, very Cook-ian.

Apple Newsroom:

In its annual Environmental Progress Report released today, Apple marked progress toward Apple 2030, the company’s ambitious goal to be carbon neutral across its entire footprint by the end of this decade. Apple’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2025 remain down over 60 percent compared to 2015 levels, holding constant from 2024 even in a year of significant business growth. The report highlights additional progress in renewable energy, materials innovation and recycling, water stewardship, and zero waste.

On the packaging front:

Apple completed the transition to 100 percent fiber-based packaging last year, fulfilling its pledge to remove plastic from packaging by 2025. Over the past 10 years, Apple engineers and designers have developed alternatives to common packaging components, replacing plastic screen protectors and trays with versions made with recycled or responsibly sourced paper. They also innovated to make packaging more recyclable, designing the largest boxes, like for the new Studio Display XDR, to collapse into smaller pieces that fit into a home recycling bin. Apple avoided more than 15,000 metric tons of plastic in the past five years alone — the equivalent of about 500 million plastic water bottles.

Apple made this shift while not compromising a whit on the design quality of its packaging. If anything, I’d say Apple products have better packaging than ever. How they look, how they feel, the experience of opening them. Some of the company’s most talented and most effective designers work on the packaging team.

Earlier in the announcement:

As Apple celebrates Earth Day with its teams, partners, and customers around the world — including with a special offer for users who bring in their Apple devices for recycling at participating Apple Store locations — here’s a look at the progress the company is making across its environmental initiatives.

That special offer, the 2026 Earth Day Promotion, is a PDF. That PDF file is not the work of Apple’s best designers. Jiminy.

Ken Walters (via Hacker News): The bottom edge of the MacBook is very sharp. Indeed, the industrial designers at Apple chose an aluminum unibody partly for the fact that it can handle such a geometry. But, it is uncomfortable on my wrists, and I believe strongly in customizing one's tools, so I filed it off. […]