When Tim Cook became Apple’s CEO in 2011, he inherited a strong legacy from Steve Jobs. After 15 years in the role, he handed the reins to hardware executive John Ternus. During Cook’s tenure, Apple expanded its portfolio of products and services, becoming one of the world’s most profitable technology companies.
One of Cook’s most important moves was steering Apple, which derives half of its revenue from the iPhone, toward services. Cook oversaw the launch of iCloud, and launched Apple Pay in 2014 and Apple Music in 2015. In 2019, Apple TV, Apple Arcade, Apple News Plus and the company’s credit card were introduced; Fitness Plus and Apple One, which combines services, were also rolled out. Apple reported total revenue of $100 billion from its services last year.
Cook also transitioned Macs from Intel processors to Apple’s own processors. The ARM-based M1 chip, introduced in 2020, exceeded expectations in the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac mini. Apple completed the transition from Intel in 2023 and has released six generations of the M series since then. The latest M6 became the company’s first chip to use its 2-nanometer process. Apple also used its first 5G modem in the iPhone 16E.
The Apple Watch launched in 2015, followed by AirPods in 2016. Over time, the Apple Watch evolved into a health device capable of recording ECGs and detecting irregular heart rhythms and sleep apnea. An FDA-approved hearing aid feature and hearing protection were added to AirPods Pro 2. During Cook’s tenure, Apple surpassed market capitalization thresholds of $1 trillion in 2018, followed by $2 trillion, $3 trillion and $4 trillion.
In the area of privacy, Apple refused in 2015 to create a backdoor for the iPhone 5C belonging to the San Bernardino attacker. While the company opposed a request in the United Kingdom to access encrypted iCloud data, it introduced features such as Private Relay, Advanced Data Protection and Private Cloud Compute.
By contrast, Vision Pro failed to achieve widespread adoption due to its $3,499 price in 2024 and its limited use cases; production and marketing were scaled back in 2025. Project Titan, on which more than $10 billion was spent, was canceled and its 2,000-member team was disbanded. Siri fell behind its rivals, and its AI-powered version was delayed. Apple was also criticized over the Epic Games lawsuit, App Store rules and Apple Maps, which got off to a troubled start in 2012. While Cook’s relationship with Donald Trump benefited the company in terms of tariffs, it created an image at odds with Apple’s values regarding diversity, racial equality and the environment.
Background
Apple is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: We have published 17 news stories mentioning the name in the last 90 days; the latest is dated September 1, 2026.