Apple CEO Tim Cook is prepping his successors

Apple CEO Tim Cook is prepping his successors



Apple CEO Tim Cook has said he is already preparing many people to take over his leading role at the firm.

Cook made the comments yesterday during an interview at Apple's huge new flagship store in Chicago.

'I see my role as CEO to prepare as many people as I can to be CEO, and that's what I'm doing. And then the board makes a decision at that point in time,' he told BuzzFeed News.



For the interview, Cook sat beside Angela Ahrendts, who runs Apple's retail division and has previously been noted as a potential future CEO.

Ms Ahrendts told Buzzfeed that reports she was in the running for the job are 'fake news' and 'silly'.

The American businesswoman was the CEO of British fashion firm Burberry from 2006 to 2014, eventually leaving to join Apple.

She was also a member of the Prime Minister's business advisory council until it was disbanded in 2016.

Cook was named as Apple's new CEO in 2011 when Steve Jobs stepped down from the role due to illness.

Jobs died three months later, shortly after the iPhone 4S was released.

At 56, Cook is unlikely to retire soon, but rumours suggest he is interested in a career in politics.



While he has been more outspoken politically than previous Apple CEOs, Cook has denied any future political plans.

During yesterday's interview, Cook also discussed the new iPhone X, which begins pre-sale this Friday for its November release.

Supply of the firm's new flagship smartphone will be restricted, reports suggest, to which Cook responded: 'We'll be working as hard as possible to make as many as possible.'



Cook's comments come after Steve Wozniak, who co-founded Apple alongside Jobs in 1976, suggested yesterday that he wasn't impressed by the iPhone X.

In a new interview, Wozniak said that he won't be buying an iPhone X on 'day one', and instead claims he is happy with his iPhone 8.

He expressed concerns about whether the Face ID feature, which allows users to unlock their device just by looking at it, would work.

Wozniak was speaking from the sidelines of the Money 20/20 conference in Las Vegas this week when he made his opinion on the iPhone X known.



He said: 'I'd rather wait and watch that one.

'I'm happy with my iPhone 8 — which is the same as the iPhone 7, which is the same as the iPhone 6, to me.

'For some reason, the iPhone X is going to be the first iPhone I didn't — on day one — upgrade to.

'But my wife will, so I'll be close enough to see it.'