If Apple CEO Tim Cook retired on his 60th birthday, back in 2020, this article would be considerably easier to write.
We’d start with the phenomenal strides made by the company under his watch: Profit and revenue doubled, the market value lifted from $350 billion to $2 trillion (the first U.S. company to hit that milestone). We could discuss the cultural impact made by the Apple Watch and AirPods, the canny pivot to services, and the regulatory storms navigated with deft tact. Ultimately we would agree that his quieter, more dependable qualities had been sadly underrated in comparison with the flashier genius of Steve Jobs, and bid him farewell with an outpouring of positivity.
But instead Cook stuck around, perhaps influenced, towards the end, by the sound of senior executives stampeding past his office on their way out. The mass exodus was carefully orchestrated, he insisted, knowing that his own departure would only make things look worse. But that departure has now finally arrived, and John Ternus will take the top seat tomorrow.
Those additional six years have made Cook’s corporate eulogy rather more of a challenge. On the product side, there have been groundbreaking and successful launches, but the products that were successful were very rarely groundbreaking, and the ones that were were such a flop that Apple had to fire 100 employees in the Vision Pro team. What was the last truly exciting product of the Cook era? The Apple Watch came out in 2015, the AirPods in 2016 and the iPhone X in 2017. Even the first Apple silicon Macs came out in 2020. It’s cruel in some ways that the iPhone Ultra will arrive a few days after Cook leaves office, but that is typical of the man’s selflessness. He wants to give Ternus a head start.
AI has been a mixed bag, to say the least. In recent months, some analysts (including this one) have started to view Cook’s approach in this area more favorably, but let’s be honest: This was no masterstroke. Like spatial computing, Cook looked on AI as a priority target, and the fact Apple ended up outsourcing much of its AI infrastructure and expertise to Google and OpenAI was the lucky result of internal failure rather than wise strategising. Siri AI is now fit for purpose but plenty of reputational damage was done over the course of years as a result of its previous and scandalously long-running incompetence.
Then there’s the ethical side of things: the criteria by which it will be judged, in Cook’s own words, whether or not he was a good and decent man. There were the questions over employee working conditions in 2021 and the anti-unionization tactics in 2022. Cook’s Apple is loosening its iron grip on the App Store but every concession is given up grudgingly and by the smallest possible increments. Such is the company’s relationship with its developer “partners.”
It’s probably wise, finally, to skip quickly over the divisive optics of Cook’s involvement in President Trump’s second term, other than to mention that this relationship seems likely to dominate his time as executive chairman. So much goodwill has been burned in the past six years that some may view this “promotion” as karma.
A complicated legacy, then, and time to give someone else a turn at the wheel. Someone who focuses more on developing great products and a little less on squeezing the costs and honing the logistics. Someone without the baggage of 15 years in the limelight. Someone who can start afresh in their relationship with employees, developers, and customers, and leave governmental liaison duties to the chairman.
But I don’t want to finish on a negative note. These past 15 years have been a time of unprecedented prosperity for Apple, and I have no doubt that Cook’s time in charge will be remembered by Apple fans with fondness. Thanks, Tim, and good luck in the new job.
Foundry
Welcome to our weekly Apple Breakfast column, which includes all the Apple news you missed last week in a handy bite-sized roundup. We call it Apple Breakfast because we think it goes great with a Monday morning cup of coffee or tea, but it’s cool if you want to give it a read during lunch or dinner hours too.
Mac overhaul special
Apple launches new M6 Mac mini with another price hike.
Apple announces the M5 Ultra Mac Studio with up to 512GB of RAM. Yes, you read that right.
6 Mac mini and Studio upgrades you might have missed.
Apple Magic Keyboards get cosmetic updates, avoid price hikes.
Amid raging price hikes, Apple slashes flagship cloth by more than 50%.
Apple is handing out free M6 upgrades to some M4 buyers.
Apple’s newest flagship Mac is really hard to buy.
Trending: Top stories
The iPhone event is called Surprise and Shine and it’ll take place September 9.
Mac-ify your iPad with these 10 must-have accessories.
The iPhone event is coming. The iPhone you want might not be.
It’s Tim Cook’s last week on the job. Let’s review his career, says the Macalope.
iOS 27 has an intriguing new Drawing app for scribbling Messages.
Apple TV is getting a $2 price hike
The rumor mill
iPhone 18 Pro preorders might kick off a little later this year.
iPhone price rises ‘inevitable,’ but may not be as bad as you expect.
A new iMac is ‘close to launch’ with an M6 and new colors.
Apple Stores are getting ready for the release of the long-rumored home hub.
New update points to ‘Pluribus’ season 2 in… summer 2028. Urgh.
Podcast of the week
In this week’s podcast we talk about Tim Cook’s legacy.
And with that, we’re done for this week’s Apple Breakfast. If you’d like to get regular roundups, sign up for our newsletters, including our new email from The Macalope–an irreverent, humorous take on the latest news and rumors from a half-man, half-mythical Mac beast. You can also follow us on Facebook, Threads, Bluesky, or X for discussion of breaking Apple news stories. See you next Monday, and stay Appley.
