I’m over the moon excited about India, says Tim Cook, who will transition to Executive Chairman on Sept 1, 2026
After 89 earnings calls, 15 years as CEO, and 28 years at the company he helped transform into the world’s most valuable, Apple CEO Tim Cook stepped into his penultimate quarterly appearance this week with the confidence of a man who knows he has done his job right.
“Today Apple is proud to report our best March quarter ever,” Cook told analysts in the 89th earnings call – his second-last – opening with numbers that truly amaze. USD 111.2 billion in revenue, up 17% year-on-year, iPhone at a March quarter record, services at an all-time high.
Cook, who will transition to Executive Chairman on September 1, used the call to formally introduce his successor John Ternus, Apple’s current senior vice president of Hardware Engineering and a 25-year company veteran.
“There is no one on this planet I trust more to lead Apple into the future than John Ternus. John is a brilliant engineer, a deep thinker, a person of remarkable character, and a born leader. I know he will push us to go further than we think is possible,” Cook said.
Ternus, for his part, kept his remarks brief: “This is the most exciting time in my 25-year career at Apple to be building products and services,” he said, declining to offer roadmap specifics but signalling continuity on the financial discipline Cook has been known for.
When asked what advice he was giving his successor, Cook reached for something elemental: “One of the most important decisions he’ll make is where to spend his time. Never forget the North Star for the company. We’re about making the best products in the world that really enrich other people’s lives. If you keep focusing on that and make your decisions around that, it will produce a great business.”
Apple’s India story to pass on to John Ternus
Among the most promising chapters Cook is handing Ternus is the huge opportunity that is India.
Cook has spoken about India on nearly every recent earnings call, but recent remarks carried particular weight coming from a CEO in his final months.
“It’s the second-largest smartphone market in the world and the third-largest PC market. Despite doing extremely well there for quite some time, we still have a modest share — that really speaks to the opportunity,” he said.
iPhone, Mac, and iPad all posted double-digit growth in India during the March quarter. Apple opened its sixth retail store in the country. Cook noted, “the majority of customers in all of our categories — from the iPhone to the Mac to the iPad to the Watch — are new to that product there. It speaks very well to growing the install base.”
India, put simply, is a market Apple is just beginning to unravel. It opened its sixth store in Borivali in February 2026.
The legwork — building a mass-market Apple in a country of 1.4 billion people, millions of whom are entering the middle class for the first time — now falls to Ternus.
Cook added, “There are a lot of people moving into the middle class there, and we’ve got some great products for them, both currently and coming.” And when an analyst pressed him directly on the India opportunity, he quipped, “Net-net, I’m over the moon excited about India.”
Tim Cook joined Apple in 1998. He became CEO in 2011 and has overseen the introduction of numerous products and services, including new categories like Apple Watch, AirPods, and Apple Vision Pro, and services ranging from iCloud and Apple Pay to Apple TV and Apple Music. He was also instrumental in expanding existing product lines. Under Cook’s leadership, Apple has grown from a market capitalisation of approximately $350 billion to $4 trillion, representing a more than 1,000% increase, and yearly revenue has nearly quadrupled, from $108 billion in fiscal year 2011 to more than $416 billion in fiscal year 2025. The company has expanded its global footprint substantially, particularly in emerging markets; it is now in more than 200 countries and territories. Apple operates over 500 retail stores and has more than doubled the number of countries in which its customers can visit an Apple Store. During his tenure, Apple has grown by more than 100,000 team members and increased its active installed base to more than 2.5 billion devices.
