Tim Cook to take direct control of Apple’s design team

Apple CEO Tim Cook is about to get his hands on one of the company’s most prized assets: its design team. Starting later this year, Cook will directly oversee the group responsible for creating those sleek iPhones, elegant MacBooks, and everything else that makes Apple products instantly recognizable.

The shake-up is part of a carefully orchestrated leadership transition. COO Jeff Williams, who’s been running operations since 2015, is passing the torch to Sabih Khan, Apple’s senior vice president of Operations, later this month. But Williams isn’t disappearing just yet, he’ll hang around through the end of 2025, keeping an eye on the design team, Apple Watch, and the company’s health initiatives before calling it a career.