Expectations for Tim Cook were almost impossibly precocious erstwhile he stepped successful to switch Apple’s visionary cofounder successful 2011. He inherited a institution connected a blockbuster run, aft Steve Jobs returned and revitalized the Mac, launched the iPod, and oversaw the motorboat of the iPhone.
Now, aft 15 years successful the CEO role, Tim Cook is stepping down. He’s replaced coming by hardware leader John Ternus. Over the people of Cook’s tenure, Apple accomplished a lot, pinch the motorboat of plentifulness of caller products, features, and services that the institution conscionable wouldn’t beryllium the aforesaid without. There were plentifulness of ups and downs, but Cook helped cement the institution arsenic 1 of the astir profitable tech companies connected the planet.
Here’s a look backmost astatine Cook’s bequest — including his biggest wins astatine the institution and his biggest misses.
Win: Growing Apple’s services business
When Cook became CEO, he had a unusual problem: The iPhone was truthful successful that it made up half of Apple’s revenue, and he needed to diversify. To do this, Cook turned to Apple’s services business, which began ramping up pinch the motorboat of the App Store successful 2008. Under Cook, it has grown into a monolithic root of gross for the company, topped only by income from the iPhone. Though Steve Jobs primitively announced iCloud successful June 2011, Cook oversaw its launch aft taking complete arsenic CEO conscionable months later.
Apple’s services business continued to turn since then, pinch Cook launching Apple Pay successful 2014, followed by Apple Music successful 2015. The institution later revealed a flurry of caller services successful 2019: Apple TV, Apple Arcade, Apple News Plus, and its own in installments card. It moreover debuted its ain Fitness Plus workout subscription, on pinch an Apple One scheme that bundles each of its services together.
Last year, Apple reported earning $100 billion from each of its services combined.
Image: Apple
While astatine the helm, Cook led an inaugural to modulation Macs distant from Intel chips and onto Apple’s ain civilization processors. The modulation could person been a disaster: The hardware could person been weaker, the package could person suffered from years of sluggish activity from developers — some realities knowledgeable erstwhile the Windows world tried to make a akin modulation to Arm-based chips.
Instead, Apple began the move successful 2020 aft revealing its ain ARM-based chip, the M1, which exceeded expectations pursuing its debut successful the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and the Mac mini. The chips person continued to springiness Apple a capacity separator and free it from the sometimes rocky Intel improvement cycle. Since then, Apple has released six generations of its M-series chips, pinch the most caller M6 being the company’s first built connected the much businesslike 2-nanometer process. Apple officially vanished its move distant from Intel successful 2023.
Aside from its in-house Mac chips, Apple also launched its first 5G modem successful the iPhone 16E nether Cook.
Win: Apple’s foray into wearables and health
In the years aft Cook became CEO, Apple expanded its merchandise lineup beyond the iPhone, Mac, and iPod. Cook led the motorboat of the Apple Watch successful 2015, which has gone from a companion instrumentality for the iPhone to an precocious health-tracking wearable pinch the expertise to take ECGs, flag irregular heartbeats, and detect slumber apnea.
Apple besides became 1 of the first awesome tech companies to motorboat wireless earbuds pinch the release of the AirPods successful 2016. The institution moreover managed to incorporated health-focused capabilities into its earbuds, arsenic it introduced an FDA-authorized proceeding aid characteristic pinch the AirPods Pro 2 and added built-in proceeding protection. Cook himself acknowledged Apple’s effect connected personification health, saying during a 2019 interview: “...If you zoom retired into the future, and you look back, and you inquire the question, ‘What was Apple’s top publication to mankind?’ it will beryllium astir health.”
Win: Making Apple the first US institution to deed a $1 trillion marketplace cap
In 2011, Apple was ascendant, riding precocious connected the first fewer generations of the iPhone. Cook took the reins and capitalized connected the momentum, transforming the institution into a market-dominating powerhouse. In 2018, Apple became the first US institution to reach a marketplace capitalization of much than $1 trillion. The institution has since hit $2 trillion, $3 trillion, and $4 trillion marketplace cap milestones, arsenic Cook’s activity and command of the proviso chain propelled the institution to higher profits.
Win: Fighting for personification privacy
Apple made headlines successful 2015 after refusing to build a backdoor into the iPhone 5C belonging to 1 of the shooters successful the San Bernardino violent onslaught connected privateness grounds. At the time, Cook published a missive to customers, saying the government’s petition is an “unprecedented measurement which threatens the information of our customers” and would person “implications acold beyond the ineligible lawsuit astatine hand.”
The institution is now successful a akin conflict successful the UK, wherever it’s pushing backmost connected demands to build a backdoor into encrypted iCloud personification data, and precocious revenge different ineligible challenge against the request. Aside from these fights, Apple has introduced a number of privacy-focused features nether Cook, including Private Relay and Advanced Data Protection, and a Private Cloud Compute strategy to protect AI queries.
Though Cook whitethorn person been successful successful introducing Apple into the wearables space, the aforesaid can’t beryllium said for the company’s introduction into virtual reality. The Apple Vision Pro launched successful 2024 and aimed to alteration the measurement you interact pinch tech by putting apps connected your face. But the $3,499 value tag and constricted usage cases didn’t group it up for mainstream adoption.
The Financial Times reported successful December 2025 that Apple trim Vision Pro accumulation and trading owed to “weak sales.” Apple also laid disconnected unit who worked connected the Vision Pro, while “largely shutting down” a squad dedicated to gaming connected the headset, according to Bloomberg.
Miss: The Apple Car that ne'er was
For years, Apple remained tight-lipped astir Project Titan, its long-rumored inaugural to build a self-driving vehicle. Reports propose Apple had been moving connected an autonomous car since astatine slightest 2014, arsenic the institution continued to driblet hints astir the project. Cook said successful 2017 that Apple is “focusing connected autonomous systems,” adding that “clearly, 1 intent of autonomous systems are self-driving cars.”
This ne'er panned out. After spending more than $10 billion connected Project Titan, Apple officially scrapped the thought and disbanded the 2,000-person squad down the project, Bloomberg reported astatine the time.
Miss: Siri and Apple Intelligence struggles
Shortly aft taking complete arsenic CEO, Cook introduced Siri. In time, its constricted capabilities began to lag down rival sound assistants, often struggling to reply elemental questions. Apple outfitted Siri pinch a more natural-sounding voice and made other improvements complete the years but ne'er rather delivered connected the original promise.
Apple’s scheme to upgrade Siri pinch AI was expected to people the assistant’s translator into thing really useful — isolated from it didn’t spell arsenic planned. Apple initially took the wraps disconnected a much conversational Siri successful June 2024, but later delayed its launch, saying successful March 2025 that it’s “going to return america longer than we thought” to present promised features, for illustration the expertise for Siri to power apps connected your behalf. The improvement play didn’t extremity there, arsenic Apple replaced AI main John Giannandrea and agreed to salary $250 million for allegedly misleading customers astir AI Siri. The AI-upgraded Siri, powered by a civilization type of Google Gemini, is now connected way to motorboat this autumn — much than 2 years aft it was announced.
Miss: App Store monopoly mishaps
In 2020, Epic Games sued Apple aft the iPhone shaper removed Fortnite from the App Store for directing users to Epic’s ain costs processor. The lengthy ineligible battle that ensued shone a ray connected the lengths a Cook-controlled Apple would spell to support its power complete the App Store — and the committee it earns from in-app purchases.
App shop regulations successful the European Union only amplified this, arsenic Apple introduced a convoluted carveout for developers wanting to administer apps connected replacement app stores. The institution says it has since “resolved” a disagreement with the EU complete its policies, but the struggle to get it to comply speaks to conscionable really overmuch Apple has travel to trust connected App Store revenue. And while Apple whitethorn not mind tussling pinch regulators, the strict policies person for years disappointment developers connected its level — an assemblage that’s important to Apple’s success.
Miss: The rocky merchandise of Apple Maps
Apple Maps was a buggy messiness pursuing its motorboat successful 2012. As The Verge reported astatine the time, representation specifications were missing crossed the US, while different cities for illustration London, Beijing, and Tokyo were “virtually blank” and awesome landmarks “labeled inaccurately aliases wildly misplaced.” Cook issued a nationalist apology arsenic the institution worked to hole issues crossed the app.
Eddy Cue, Apple’s caput of services, said successful 2016 that the disastrous launch of Maps led to the company’s determination to trial updates successful a nationalist beta first.
This motorboat whitethorn person been a disaster, but the turnaround has been 1 of the successes of Cook’s tenure and speaks to his expertise to run the institution truthful effectively. Apple Maps has slow and steadily improved to the constituent wherever it’s now a awesome component of the iPhone.
What Cook’s still connected the hook for: Managing Trump
Apple’s narration pinch President Donald Trump has some helped and wounded the company. Currying favour pinch the Trump management has helped Apple debar steep tariffs, but it’s besides appeared astatine likelihood pinch the company’s values connected diversity, group equity, and the situation — and it’s regularly required “Tim Apple” to put himself successful embarrassing positions for the liking of the company’s bottommost line
During Trump’s first term, Cook showed the president astir a factory that the president incorrectly took in installments for opening. During Trump’s 2nd term, Cook gifted the president an engraved piece of Corning solid pinch a 24-karat golden base.
As executive chairman, Cook will still beryllium connected pat to handle Apple’s narration pinch Trump.
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