Gurman: Tim Cook Likely to Remain Apple CEO Until at Least Mid-2026

[hajime]

Apple has thrived under Tim Cook's leadership, an incredible track record of profitability and growth, averaging 18% annual market cap growth since 2011 when he took on the role. First $1 trillion dollar market cap company, first $3 trillion market cap... I wonder how the market will react when he eventually steps down? And how Macrumors will react ??

As a long-term Apple customer since the Apple II, I don't really care the above. I don't benefit from his leadership. In fact, I lost interest in Apple products.

 

[Kidseeghost]

As always, the people on Macrumors will react calmly and in a nuanced way, in touch with reality.

John Ternus sucks, I miss Tim Cook, Tim would never do this, Tim was the better CEO, Apple lost its identity without Tim, … (while they were shttng on Tim for over a decade)

 

[CATiNTHESTORE]

Yeah, Cook’s track record is insane, 18% annual market-cap growth, first $1T company, first $3T company. No question he’s one of the best operators in business history, and when he steps down the market (and MacRumors) will absolutely lose its mind. But the real question is what has Tim Cook actually done for Apple from an innovation standpoint?

Yes, he oversaw AirPods which basically created the entire true-wireless category and became a massive cultural hit. Huge win. But beyond that, where’s the next iPhone-level product? The next paradigm shift?

Financially he’s crushed it. Operationally he’s unmatched, but in terms of meaningful, era-defining innovation, what’s the big one under Cook?

Innovation left the company with Steve Jobs and Jony Ive.

 

[CATiNTHESTORE]

As a long-term Apple customer since the Apple II, I don't really care the above. I don't benefit from his leadership. In fact, I lost interest in Apple products.

That’s actually fact

 

[frownface]

As a long-term Apple customer since the Apple II, I don't really care the above. I don't benefit from his leadership. In fact, I lost interest in Apple products.

Cook at his heart is a business person.
He's sole focus is to drive shareholder value; be it at the expense of customer value, supplier value, or employee value.

Unfortunately it's normal; the mandate for any ceo is to drive shareholder value. Steve was rare in the sense that he didn't care about shareholders and just wanted to make good products. This put him at odds with many investors.

I don't really believe there's anyone around that has enough sway to be able to keep shareholders at bay. The closest modern equivalent is probably someone like elon musk, but he's got a whole host of different problems. I def would not want him as ceo of apple.

 

[roguemountain]

He's so out of touch and boring so the sooner the better. But, of course, it's a big change so it shouldn't be done without a great up to date succession plan. Whoever might have been the right choice to replace him 5 years ago is probably the wrong one today.

 

[jonblatho]

Maybe I'm parsing words too heavily, but I don't think the FT report and Gurman's belief are mutually exclusive. Apple could announce early in the year that Cook will step down midyear, which would allow for a transition period both internally and for investors. This approach would be appropriate for, as reported, a succession plan that's been in the works for some time.

If a resignation or "retirement" announced day-of, it's usually…not a sign of a mutual parting of ways.

In any case, that kind of nuance can easily get lost in the game of telephone between sources and published reports.

 

[brewcitywi]

The timing for Tim Cook to retire seems like it would make sense in 2026. Remember…just before Steve Jobs came back to Apple, they were licensing out their operating system to other computer companies (remember Power Computing?). Things under Tim Cook could have been catastrophic, yet he grew the company. That being said, I’d love to see someone who was more product oriented.

 

[bmark]

Apple's innovation under Tim Cook has been awful! Ready for the new chapter of Apple leadership.

 

[grammatica]

I can also make a prediction. There will be a new iPhone in 2026.

 

[ThomasJL]

Cook at his heart is a business person.
He's sole focus is to drive shareholder value; be it at the expense of customer value, supplier value, or employee value.

Unfortunately it's normal; the mandate for any ceo is to drive shareholder value. Steve was rare in the sense that he didn't care about shareholders and just wanted to make good products. This put him at odds with many investors.

I don't really believe there's anyone around that has enough sway to be able to keep shareholders at bay. The closest modern equivalent is probably someone like elon musk, but he's got a whole host of different problems. I def would not want him as ceo of apple.

Good points.

Shareholders don’t want another Steve Jobs. Shareholders want another Tim Cook.

Even if shareholders somehow knew in advance that a Cook-like CEO would make mediocre products, and that a Jobs-like CEO would make the most innovative products in the industry, they would still want the Cook-like CEO.

If Apple wanted a Jobs-like CEO, then they would hire the most Jobs-like person known of, which is Scott Forstall.

 

[svish]

I think Tim will remain the CEO at least for the whole of 2026. Maybe late 2027 or even early 2028 he might step down from the role and be the Chairman of the board.

 

[Berti10]

Because the new pro iPhones are in the colors of his university, those were his „goodbye“-phones. So should be replaced by September 2026.

 

[dumastudetto]

Not likely - that's not the CEOs role. Have you written a thoughtful letter to Apple's Craig Federighi describing your issue?

The CEO before Tim Cook wouldn't have fixed it per se, but he would have cared enough to take ownership of the issue until it was fixed. I suspect "not my role" is precisely why so many of the small details now slip through the net and into an ocean of others.

 

[AndiG]

Apple has thrived under Tim Cook's leadership, an incredible track record of profitability and growth, averaging 18% annual market cap growth since 2011 when he took on the role. First $1 trillion dollar market cap company, first $3 trillion market cap... I wonder how the market will react when he eventually steps down? And how Macrumors will react ??

„What ruined Apple was not growth … They got very greedy … Instead of following the original trajectory of the original vision, which was to make the thing an appliance and get this out there to as many people as possible … they went for profits. They made outlandish profits for about four years. What this cost them was their future. What they should have been doing is making rational profits and going for market share.”

Steve Jobs

 

[Woyzeck]

Apple has thrived under Tim Cook's leadership, an incredible track record of profitability and growth, averaging 18% annual market cap growth since 2011 when he took on the role. First $1 trillion dollar market cap company, first $3 trillion market cap... I wonder how the market will react when he eventually steps down? And how Macrumors will react ??

The thing is that as an Apple user I don't care about the company's market performance, but I do care about their products. And products-wise Apple was a much better performer when it was smaller and under different leadership.

 

[cicalinarrot]

As always, the people on Macrumors will react calmly and in a nuanced way, in touch with reality.

I laughed but then I also remembered this is one of the places on the web with the calmest members.
There's people who say things that would make you look very rude in real life, but there's nobody saying things that would make you end up stabbed or in prison in real life. Which these days is a rare thing on the internet.

 

[User 6502]

Apple Watch would like a word with you.

Released under cook but most likely developed before. He just oversaw its botched release. Jobs definitely wouldn’t have approved that tacky and ridiculous gold variant and would have given it a more clear direction, which it took a couple of hardware iterations under cook to get. Also it’s a product that has stagnated for 5+ years. Only minor incremental improvements and no significant changes for a long time.

 

[iMac The Knife]

...
For Cook's departure!!!

 

[marco114]

maybe we can bring back Jobs as an AI. it would be immensely better than Cook.

 

[marco114]

Apple has failed to really innovate since Steve Jobs has left. They can produce a proper new Apple TV in time for Christmas, they can't do anything with AI, it's been out for 3 years now. They are really asleep at the wheel. The OS is full of bugs too. The Liquid Glass rollout has been buggy too.

 

[MrGimper]

The bloke has the most insincere "smile" I've ever seen.

Genuinely makes my skin crawl.

Along with his fake enthusiasm.

 

[turbineseaplane]

The bloke has the most insincere "smile" I've ever seen.

Genuinely makes my skin crawl.

Along with his fake enthusiasm.

Acting, and/or presenting live, is definitely not a core competency for Tim

 

[AndiG]

Good points.

Shareholders don’t want another Steve Jobs. Shareholders want another Tim Cook.

Even if shareholders somehow knew in advance that a Cook-like CEO would make mediocre products, and that a Jobs-like CEO would make the most innovative products in the industry, they would still want the Cook-like CEO.

If Apple wanted a Jobs-like CEO, then they would hire the most Jobs-like person known of, which is Scott Forstall.

Then shareholders would be stupid - and I guess they are not. Cook sells the „best iPhone ever“ for approximately 15 years now. But you cannot add faster CPU, better camera for another 15 years - everybody is aware of this.

Apple lost leaders in design, AI talents and relies on marketing. Instead of „just works“ it favors features and „lock customers in, lock competition out“. This does work for some time, but not forever.

Now Apple needs a new kind of Nadella leader. It needs fresh ideas, new products and a new strategy.

And we see Apple falling behind. Apple Intelligence was a bigger fail than Apple Maps and Apple still relies von Google Search, Google Maps and now - Gemini. Google works on Interoperability like with messages and Airdrop and Apple tries to disable interoperability.

No, Apple needs a new CEO and Tim needs to step back ASAP.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Then shareholders would be stupid - and I guess they are not. Cook sells the „best iPhone ever“ for approximately 15 years now. But you cannot add faster CPU, better camera for another 15 years - everybody is aware of this.

The marketing around "Vapor Chamber" is a good example of the problems here.
Apple was traditionally not into talking about things like that, for good reason.

I'd wager a vast sum that it totally misses the mark with an overwhelming majority of the iPhone user base.

It's PC & Android-ish to be talking about "cooling tech".