Why these analysts believe that it is time for a new Apple CEO

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Cnn
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Two research analysts hit waves last week when they demanded great shock at Tech Giant Apple.

The analysts did not suggest a logo or product resignation. Instead, they called for the exchange of Tim Cook, CEO, the Steve Jobs in 2011 and the company catapulted the company to its valuation of US dollars.

Walter Piecyk and Joe Galone by Lightshed Partners, a technology, media and telecommunications research company based in New York, wonder whether Cook is still the right person to lead one of the most valuable companies in the world because they are back in AI-a technology that already bothers work, education and other facets of everyday life. Apple has already exposed itself to developing a new HIT product, since the sale of smartphones, the largest sales driver of Apple, slowed down in the industry.

“Apple now needs a product -oriented CEO that does not focus on logistics,” wrote the couple on July 9th.

Replacing the cook would be a high movement for Apple. The company is already undergoing elsewhere in the C-Suite, and changing CEOs could continue Focus from leading Apple's core business. Cook is also often supported by Apple's Board and has “the power that other industry captains such as Bob Iger from Disney and Jamie Dimon from JPmorgan Chase fails to fail, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who has it long -term Apple's business strategy.

There is no evidence that Cook will go somewhere soon. Apple's stocks (AAPL) have shot up under Cook's term in which he also built other lucrative products after the success of the iPhone – such as smartwatches, earphones and digital services.

Of course, the Lightshed Note is only a crowded field of analysts and researchers who follow Apple's business. But it may be an indication that Apple's AI setbacks are larger than a standard product delay -For some, shake confidence in Apple's innovative ability. And Piecyk and Galone are not the only ones who ask themselves whether Apple needs new leadership.

“He is a supply cap. You need a technical visionary,” said Ted Mortonson, managing director and strategist of the technology sector at Financial Services Company Baird. “I think they are in much more difficulties than some people think.”

Apple did not respond to CNN's request for a comment.

So far, Apple has dealt with a litany of challenges in 2025: tariff threats of President Donald Trump; New restrictions by the European Union, as it runs its valuable app store; And a federal judge who allows a antitrust bill in which it is claimed that he had monopolized the smartphone market to continue.

But the concerns about the slow progress of the iPhone manufacturer in the AI were at the front and in the middle.

In March, the company said that it was delayed by a long -awaited update to Siri, which would have made it possible to answer more complex questions with personalized answers and to do tasks on behalf of a user. This type of change would bring Siri closer to more modern AI agents such as Openai's Chatgpt and Google's Gemini.

The company didn't say much about when the revised Siri will arrive except for more time to reach our high -quality bar, said Craig Federighi, Senior Vice President for software engineering from Apple, at the company's global development conference in June.

The concern is wider than Siri alone. It seems that Apple does not seem to show much for its previous AI efforts that CEO and main analyst of Creative strategies shared CNN at the beginning of this year. According to Bloomberg, Apple shaked his AI leadership to accelerate his efforts in the room.

Apple Intelligence, which arrived in 2024 after the start of the iPhone 16 -September, contains tools that summarize notifications, transcribe telephone calls, delete objects in photos and use the camera of an iPhone to search Google or to request chatt.

Although Apple delayed the Siri update, there were a number of new AI functions, including live length translations, known with AI-generated workout knowledge for the Apple Watch and the improvements of the existing functions.

However, many of these upgrades are Apple that catch up on the tools that are already offered by other technology companies and may not be enough to position Apple as a leader.

“(Cook) did a great job to bring Apple to where it is, but the environment has certainly changed,” said Thomas Martin, partner and senior portfolio manager at Investment Globalt. “They really fight on the AI front. It is another animal because AI is software and Apple is traditionally almost exclusively hardware.”

Under Cook's Watch, other top -class products or projects have been behind expectations in recent years.

Last year Apple started the Vision Proheadset of 3,500 US dollars and initiated it as the future of the computer. But more than a year later, it remains a niche, newer device, as some of Apple's competitors progress with more stylish and practical, expanded reality glasses.

Also in 2024, Apple reported a decades of effort to build an internal electric car that is known as a Titan project and viewed the connector for an ambitious, expensive undertaking.

Apple has made other significant changes to his leadership. The Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri was replaced in early 2025, although according to the Apple website Vice President of Corporate Services. And the company announced that the long -standing Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams will leave the post this month and will retire this year.

Cook, 64, has been CEO from Apple for almost 14 years and is widely recognized for its operational ingenuity. He appeared from the shadow of one of the best -known CEOs in America, Steve Jobs, and built a global supply chain and an ecosystem for products and services that Apple maintains one of the most valuable companies in the world.

With the Apple Watch introduced in 2014, he also played an important role for Apple in the digital health area and was the first big new product that started during the term of Cook. Apple is now a market leader in portable technology, which includes both Apple Watch and other devices such as the AirPods. According to the market research company The International Data Corporation, almost a quarter of the global market for wearables was claimed for wearables from the fourth quarter of 2024.

Under the leadership of Cook, the market capitalization of Apple rose from just over 342 billion US dollars to around 3 trillion dollars today in August 2011. Even the two analysts from Lightshed Partners have recognized that Cook did “a great job”.

“To be clear, Tim Cook was the right CEO at the time he appointed and undoubtedly done great work,” the analysts wrote.

And further changes to Apple's executive ranks could hinder their efforts to expand the AI.

“I think the last thing you want to do is rock the boat further by getting Tim Cook's job into the line,” said CFRA analyst Angelo Zino. “I don't think Apple would consider that at all.”

He added that it is clear that Apple is not moving quickly enough in AI and “getting rid of Tim Cook” may not be the answer.

Instead, the company could handle its AI challenges with an acquisition -the company has reportedly discussed the purchase of KI -Startup confusion or deepened its partnership with Openaai or pursued footsteps by investing more in top talents.

It is rare that every company retains a CEO for more than 10 years, says William Klepper, academic director of executive education at the Columbia Business School and author of the book “The CEO des ceo des chief: Harge Love in the Boardroom”.

“Organizations go up and down, is it only this nature of what we call a business cycle,” he said. “And where they are now, there is a kind of static state.”

Keppler notes that the 10-year time frame is not accidental. It usually coincides with a severe interferer that changes a company's business model in this case AI. In these times of change, companies like Apple have to support their core business and at the same time adapt to what comes next.

“From my research and my model you need a change agent … because you have to start a second wave,” he said. “You cannot spend the night in a leadership role if you are at a point of bending and have to change.”

Companies usually install new CEOs for three reasons: in response to a scandal to repair a crisis or about a loss of trust and competence, says Sandra Sucher, professor for management practice at the Harvard Business School. None of these scenarios applies to Cook or Apple.

But one thing is clear: the pressure is on apple, finding out – and fast.

“Do we have an Intel from apple?” said Martin and referred to the once leading American chip maker, who fell far behind competitors such as Nvidia and AMD after missing several large technology waves.

“That would be so sad.”