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Apple has begun ramping up its succession planning as it gets ready for the possibility of CEO Tim Cook stepping down as early as next year, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

According to the report, John Ternus — Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering — is emerging as the strongest contender to take over the top job. People familiar with internal discussions told the FT that the board and senior leadership have recently accelerated their preparations for a transition after Cook’s 14-plus years at the helm.

However, Apple is not expected to announce a new chief executive before its next earnings release in late January, which will include results from the key holiday quarter, the report added.

Before being named CEO in August 2011, Tim was A

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