Apple CEO Tim Cook made a huge promise about iPhones 10 years before stepping down
Kiesha Dosanjh
Featured Image Credit: Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images
It was recently announced that Apple CEO Tim Cook would be stepping down from his role after 15 years of leading the technology power house, and replaced by John Ternus, senior vice president of Hardware Engineering.
When Cook became CEO in 2011, after the death of Steve Jobs, the latest release was the iPhone 4s. The model was revolutionary, as it was the first to introduce Apple's voice-activated virtual assistant, Siri.
Siri quickly became a household name (or member) but things didn’t stop there. In later years, Apple iPhones upgraded massively, and in 2016, the year of the iPhone SE and 7, Cook made a huge promise to users. But did he deliver?
Speaking on TV show, Mad Money 10 years ago, Cook promised: "We are going to give you things that you can’t live without that you just don’t know you need today.” At the time, Cook said the team had 'great innovation in the pipeline for new iPhones', which would incentivize customers to upgrade to the newest model.
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At the time of the interview, Face ID wasn’t even a thing, meaning users had to pull their finger out to unlock their gadgets. The first iPhone to have this life changing feature was the iPhone X, which was announced just a year later, in 2017.
However, in between the iPhone 7 and iPhone X releasing came the iPhone 8. This phone once again had some amazing upgrades, the main one being wireless charging. The design, however, was similar to the previous model.
It wasn’t until the iPhone X came out that Apple introduced a dramatic design shift, which saw an all-screen front. Plus, the all important Face ID, which meant users could unlock their phones by just looking at them.
It’s been almost 20 years since the release of the first iPhone, and users with the latest model are now walking around with the iPhone 17 which also includes a Pro and Pro Max model.
Of course now, it’s not only your hands that are occupied, as in 2015, the company released the first Apple Watch. The new invention was announced by Cook alongside the iPhone 6.
There’s no question Cook has made a huge impact in his time leading Apple. Speaking about his time at the company after news of his departure, Tim said: “It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple and to have been trusted to lead such an extraordinary company.”
He only had positive words to say about his replacement too, as he gushed: “ “John Ternus has the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity and with honor.”