Tim Cook Reportedly Has No Plans to Retire in 2026

There’s been a lot of speculation recently that Apple CEO Tim Cook could soon hand over the keys to the executive suite to a potential successor. However, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has offered a counterpoint, saying that a recent report on his departure was “premature.”

It stands to reason that Cook won’t be at the helm of Apple forever, but there’s really been no solid evidence that he’s planning to leave — just a lot of conjecture that’s loosely grounded in a few things that may not even be relevant.

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For example, Cook turned 65 on November 1. With that in mind, some have long pegged 2026 as a likely retirement date. However, it’s not like the CEO of a multi-trillion-dollar company has a mandatory retirement age, and as long as Apple is effectively printing money, the directors and shareholders are likely to let him remain at the helm for as long as he wants to stay — and he’s made it clear that he does.

Rumors of Cook’s imminent departure have also been stoked by other recent changes at the top. Jeff Williams, who succeeded Cook as chief operating officer, officially retired this month, and Luca Maestri, Apple’s 10-year veteran chief financial officer, handed the financial reins over to Kevan Parekh at the beginning of the year.

Then there’s the really wild rumor that Cook could pursue a political career, with 2026 a perfect time to step down and enter the primaries as a potential presidential candidate. Like many wild rumors, this grew from a very small kernel of truth: Cook was reportedly considered as a potential running mate for Hillary Clinton in 2016, but that was an isolated report from nearly a decade ago, so it appears little more than wishful thinking on the part of some Apple fans.

Lastly, there’s the fact that Cook himself has recently said that Apple has “very detailed succession plans.” This has led some to believe the company is preparing for a change, but the reality is that Apple has likely had a succession plan in place since the day Tim Cook took office in 2011. That’s not just a good idea — it’s a legal requirement; anything less would be neglecting its responsibilities to shareholders. After all, there are many reasons Apple might need to find a new CEO beyond Cook’s decision to retire.

Gurman basically echoes this in his recent Power On newsletter, adding that Apple is likely exploring those plans more carefully as it gets closer to Cook’s retirement — whenever that will be.

Gurman stands by his previous reporting that John Ternus, Apple’s current senior vice-president of hardware engineering, is the most likely successor due to his younger age and oversight of Apple’s hardware division. He’s also reportedly “highly regarded” by both Cook and former chief operating officer Jeff Williams, who was effectively Cook’s chief lieutenant.

That lines up with what nearly everyone is saying, and is hardly a surprise for anyone who has been following Apple corporate news over the past year or two. However, Gurman challenges last week’s claim by the Financial Times that Cook is departing by the middle of next year, declaring it “simply false.”

While there have been moves within Apple to expand Ternus’ responsibilities, he’s still not in the C-suite. Plus, as recently as two years ago, Cook expressed great enthusiasm for his job, telling Dua Lipa on her podcast in November 2023 that “I love it there and I can’t envision my life without being there so I’ll be there a while” — and there’s no indication that enthusiasm has waned since then.

This is also uncharted territory for Apple — at least for the Apple that most of us know. The company has only had two CEOs in its modern era, and Steve Jobs left the role under far more tragic circumstances. That makes it very hard to imagine what Cook’s exit would even look like. It seems unlikely he’d simply walk away from the company that he helped build into what it is today; so even when Apple is ready to name a new chief executive, Cook will undoubtedly remain on, possibly following his predecessor as Chairman of the Board. That could be timely considering that the current chair, Arthur Levinson — who has served in that position since Steve Jobs’ death — isn’t getting any younger.

The other possibility is that Cook could be declared an Apple Fellow like Phil Schiller. This is a rather nebulous role that’s seemingly intended to honor those who made significant contributions to shaping the company, but Apple can still bestow high-level responsibilities on its Fellows, as it has with the App Store in Schiller’s case.

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]