Tim Cook talks iPhone XS, Apple Watch, China tariffs on 'Good Morning America'
In an interview with Robin Roberts from New York, Apple CEO touted the new iPhones and also spoke about some policy questions.
Tim Cook, appearing on ABC's Good Morning America Tuesday, demonstrated the iPhone XS and XS Max, while also answering questions posted via Twitter the day before. Roberts began the interview asking about the trade wars, and the announcement Monday of new tariffs on goods from China. Cook appeared live in ABC's Times Square studio in New York.
"The iPhone is assembled in China, but the parts come from everywhere including the United States," Cook said. "The glass comes from Kentucky, there are chips that come from the U.S., and of course the research and development is all done in the United States. So, I don't want to speak for them, but I think they've looked at this and said that it's not really great for the United States to put a tariff on those type of products."
"I'm optimistic," Cook said of the chance to avoid retaliatory action from China. "Trade is one of those things where it's not a zero-sum game... I'm optimistic that the two countries will sort this out and life will go on."
Roberts also asked Cook about what responsibility he feels now that Apple has become the first trillion-dollar company in U.S. history.
"From my point of view, Apple could only have been created in America, we are a deeply American company," Cook said, "so we feel tremendous responsibilty to help our country." He also talked about Apple's job creation, its plans for "opening facilities in all sorts of places," as well as the company's efforts to encourage all students to learn to code.
Roberts also asked about the high cost of iPhones, and whether customers are being priced out.
"We want to make an iPhone for everyone," Cook said, reminding Roberts of the lower-cost older models that remain available. "The way most people pay for these, as it turns out, is they do a deal with a carrier, and they pay so much per month. So if you look, even the phone that's priced over a thousand dollars, most people pay about $30 a month for it, and so it's about a dollar a day." He added that the iPhone has replaced the digital camera, the video camera, the digital music player, and other products that used to require a separate purchase.
"It's not about selling the most, but we've never been about selling the most, it's always about selling the best," Cook said, repeating previous remarks on the topic.
Regarding the Apple Watch, Cook talked about several of the recent stories about the Apple Watch alerting users to heart problems, before touting the new ECG capability on the Apple Watch Series 4. He also told Roberts about the portrait video feature and Memojis, although during the demo the Memoji of Cook's head briefly went on Roberts' body. The show had teased the segment with Memojis of both Roberts and Cook.
Watch the full segment here:
Cook was in New York Monday, when he visited the Apple Store in Soho.
Tim Cook, appearing on ABC's Good Morning America Tuesday, demonstrated the iPhone XS and XS Max, while also answering questions posted via Twitter the day before. Roberts began the interview asking about the trade wars, and the announcement Monday of new tariffs on goods from China. Cook appeared live in ABC's Times Square studio in New York.
"The iPhone is assembled in China, but the parts come from everywhere including the United States," Cook said. "The glass comes from Kentucky, there are chips that come from the U.S., and of course the research and development is all done in the United States. So, I don't want to speak for them, but I think they've looked at this and said that it's not really great for the United States to put a tariff on those type of products."
"I'm optimistic," Cook said of the chance to avoid retaliatory action from China. "Trade is one of those things where it's not a zero-sum game... I'm optimistic that the two countries will sort this out and life will go on."
Roberts also asked Cook about what responsibility he feels now that Apple has become the first trillion-dollar company in U.S. history.
"From my point of view, Apple could only have been created in America, we are a deeply American company," Cook said, "so we feel tremendous responsibilty to help our country." He also talked about Apple's job creation, its plans for "opening facilities in all sorts of places," as well as the company's efforts to encourage all students to learn to code.
Roberts also asked about the high cost of iPhones, and whether customers are being priced out.
"We want to make an iPhone for everyone," Cook said, reminding Roberts of the lower-cost older models that remain available. "The way most people pay for these, as it turns out, is they do a deal with a carrier, and they pay so much per month. So if you look, even the phone that's priced over a thousand dollars, most people pay about $30 a month for it, and so it's about a dollar a day." He added that the iPhone has replaced the digital camera, the video camera, the digital music player, and other products that used to require a separate purchase.
"It's not about selling the most, but we've never been about selling the most, it's always about selling the best," Cook said, repeating previous remarks on the topic.
Regarding the Apple Watch, Cook talked about several of the recent stories about the Apple Watch alerting users to heart problems, before touting the new ECG capability on the Apple Watch Series 4. He also told Roberts about the portrait video feature and Memojis, although during the demo the Memoji of Cook's head briefly went on Roberts' body. The show had teased the segment with Memojis of both Roberts and Cook.
Watch the full segment here:
Cook was in New York Monday, when he visited the Apple Store in Soho.
Thanks Apple Soho and to our team around the world for the hard work you're doing this week and all year round! Can't wait for Friday. pic.twitter.com/E7Eisyyu1j
-- Tim Cook (@tim_cook)
Comments
'It's about being the best'. I'd have to see a definiton of 'best' to understand that one but Tim forgot it is also about much more than that, but he knows the audience shouldn't hear about those other aspects.
What you actually said was:
What Cook said was that most people don’t spring full price for a phone anyway.
So basically, you called nothing.
You’re welcome, by the way.
those other products or it’s not, at each price as the product has evolved. What’s missing in your comment is that it’s not merely replacing those other products in the same way early iPhones and cheaper Android phones have always replaced those products. It’s replacing them with ever better versions; a better digital camera (and associated photo storage, search/retrieval, editing and viewing capabilities), same for video camera, same for music delivery and listening experience, which is what all music players have always represented (that’s their utility) and now Apple delivers better utility in these aspects than those earlier iPhones and versus cheaper Androids. Etc, etc... down the long list of stand-alone products an iPhone replaces.
Nope.
Theyre clapping for an increase in sales and a more profitable service division.
Or did you forget that the 1 trillion dollar cap occurred before these phones were released.
If you think it’s too expensive, don’t buy it. Apple ain’t twisting your arm.
Hmm, how does ‘the best’ in context of a business that focuses on competing to create premium products, endeavors to reduce its environmental footprint and leave the world better than it found it, etc, not cover it? I think ‘... being the best’ pretty much says what any company would like to endeavor to be.
I do agree with that. At the very least, the X series models should ship with the fast charger. It would've been a great way to differentiate them from the older iPhone 7 / 8 series.
It is an empty statement but, that said, he declared 'selling' and in the context of the new phones so we should be able to at least tie the two together.
When someone starts spouting off empty statements is when the interviewer needs to set things straight: 'Tim, what do you mean by 'best'? and not let the interviewee off the hook.
When that doesn't happen it turns into a scripted exchange and quickly loses value.
Second: blah blah blah AirPower — just shut up, please. This is GMA, not The ScreenSavers. Wrong audience, and if you’d connect with non-nerd reality a little more often, you’d know that.
Third: regarding the price — it seems to me that increasing innovation in a mature product continues to incur massive R&D expenses. Rogifan_wrong seems to be both discounting the incredible new innovations Apple has packed into the Watch and iPhone and pretending that Apple’s R&D and pre-manufacturing costs for the device are zero.
If that was true, then shouldn’t the Galaxy Note 9 cost way less than $1100? The Pixel 2 cost nearly a grand (and the Pixel 3 will cost more as well)? The Surface Pro? The S9+ about the same? If Apple’s just gouging, wouldn’t their next period profit margin shoot up beyond 50 percent?
Oops, turns out R&D costs a crap tonne of money! Turns out completely revamping the internals of a smartphone every couple of years costs more to manufacture. The cost of most of the parts and the enormous costs of chip design rise over time. This is reality, not fantasy math that ignores reality.
Finally, let me just point out that this year’s standard premium model, the Xs, is not even one single dollar more expensive than last year’s premium model, the iPhone X. Last year, there wasn’t a plus size of the iPhone X — had there been, it would have cost ... wait for it ... the same as the Xs Max! Thus, in point of fact, Apple keep prices the same, whereas Samsung and Google are actually raising prices this year — and bearing in mind that these phones are expensive but highly desireable compared to the iPhone 7 or 8 line, they actually created a version that is 95 percent of the iPhone X, but $250 cheaper.
Honestly, some people spend their precious time on this earth actively looking for stuff to whine about rather than getting on with their lives ...
significantly over previous top of the line iPhones. There is no spin that can explain away an increase in flagship pricing from the 7 and 7 Plus which were 649 and 769$ respectively to were prices are now. In many countries around the world the starting price of the Xr is even higher than the original starting price of the 7Plus. And I am not talking about foreign currency here but Dollar price at current exchange rates.
That is a significant jump in pricing in a very short period of time. You cannot do that as a company and not expect backlash of some kind. I was not on a upgrade path anyways as I still like my X. I will stay with Apple and upgrade next year or the year after, but I am not blind to the fact that Apple has priced many people out of their premium tier. And Apple should not be either.