'I can't imagine life without…': Tim Cook shuts down retirement rumors

Apple CEO Tim Cook has ended all rumors surrounding his retirement from the tech giant. In a recent interview, Cook said he loves what he does and he can't imagine life without Apple.

During an interview with Good Morning America, Cook called news of him planning to step back a ‘rumor’. Cook then went on to say, “I love what I do deeply. I, uh, 28 years ago, I walked into Apple and I've loved every day of it since. We've had ups and downs, but the people I work with are so amazing. They bring out the best in me and hopefully I can bring out the best in them. I can't imagine life without Apple.”

Notably, a report in the Financial Times last year noted that Apple's board was planning for its long-time CEO to step down in early 2026. With almost three months down in this year, it doesn't seem like that deadline will be met.

Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman had reported last year that Cook's potential successor Jeff Williams left the iPhone maker in 2025 and left the company without a second-in-command. Since then, Apple's Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, John Ternus, has been seen as the potential successor to the Apple veteran.

Cook had also reportedly given Ternus charge of the company's design team, a responsibility earlier managed by Williams.

Notably, Cook, 65, has been at the company for around 28 years and has been in charge of the iPhone maker ever since its founder Steve Jobs stepped down from the role in 2011.

Tim Cook on Apple at 50:

Asked about Apple's biggest contributions in the 50 years since the company's start, Cook said, “You know, you can focus on the product moments, reinventing music, reinventing the smartphone, bringing the, uh, creative arts to the table, the creative graphics, saving people's lives with the watch.”

Cook also talked about the privacy protection measures that Apple takes, especially as autonomous AI agents become more powerful. He said, “We do as much as possible on the device and on the device is encrypted, which means that even Apple doesn't have access to it. And then when we can't answer a question on your device, we send it to something called private cloud compute, which is essentially, think of it as a big device in the sky that has the same kind of security and architecture as your phone.”