Tim Cook Visits Japan and Singapore to Meet With Developers and Employees [Updated]

Apple CEO Tim Cook has been touring Tokyo, Japan over the last few days, meeting with local employees, developers, healthcare experts, and others. Cook has been documenting the trip on his Twitter account.

tim cook japan
Cook has traveled to several countries for meets and greets during his eight-year tenure as Apple CEO, including France and Germany in September. He has also visited Canada, China, Ireland, Italy, and the United Kingdom.







Update: Cook has now arrived in Singapore and has met with local employees, developers, students, and photographers.

We'll keep this post updated as Cook continues his tour in Asia.

Popular Stories

iOS 26

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.2

Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below. Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
Intel Inside iPhone Feature

Apple's Return to Intel Rumored to Extend to iPhone

Friday December 5, 2025 10:08 am PST by
Intel is expected to begin supplying some Mac and iPad chips in a few years, and the latest rumor claims the partnership might extend to the iPhone. In a research note with investment firm GF Securities this week, obtained by MacRumors, analyst Jeff Pu said he and his colleagues "now expect" Intel to reach a supply deal with Apple for at least some non-pro iPhone chips starting in 2028....
ive and altman

Jony Ive's OpenAI Device Barred From Using 'io' Name

Friday December 5, 2025 6:22 am PST by
A U.S. appeals court has upheld a temporary restraining order that prevents OpenAI and Jony Ive's new hardware venture from using the name "io" for products similar to those planned by AI audio startup iyO, Bloomberg Law reports. iyO sued OpenAI earlier this year after the latter announced its partnership with Ive's new firm, arguing that OpenAI's planned "io" branding was too close to its...
iPhone 17 Pro Cosmic Orange

10 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 18 Pro

Monday December 1, 2025 2:40 am PST by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth...
Photos App Icon Liquid Glass

John Gruber Shares Scathing Commentary About Apple's Departing Software Design Chief

Thursday December 4, 2025 9:30 am PST by
In a statement shared with Bloomberg on Wednesday, Apple confirmed that its software design chief Alan Dye will be leaving. Apple said Dye will be succeeded by Stephen Lemay, who has been a software designer at the company since 1999. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Dye will lead a new creative studio within the company's AR/VR division Reality Labs. On his blog Daring Fireball,...
maxresdefault

iPhone Fold: Launch, Pricing, and What to Expect From Apple's Foldable

Monday December 1, 2025 3:00 am PST by
Apple is expected to launch a new foldable iPhone next year, based on multiple rumors and credible sources. The long-awaited device has been rumored for years now, but signs increasingly suggest that 2026 could indeed be the year that Apple releases its first foldable device. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Below, we've collated an updated set of key details that ...
Johny Srouji

Apple Chip Chief Johny Srouji Could Be Next to Go as Exodus Continues

Sunday December 7, 2025 10:41 am PST by
Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies Johny Srouji could be the next leading executive to leave the company amid an alarming exodus of leading employees, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. Srouji apparently recently told CEO Tim Cook that he is "seriously considering leaving" in the near future. He intends to join another company if he departs. Srouji leads Apple's chip design ...
Apple John Ternus 2019

Will John Ternus Really Be Apple's Next CEO?

Friday December 5, 2025 9:01 am PST by
There is uncertainty about Apple's head of hardware engineering John Ternus succeeding Tim Cook as CEO, The Information reports. Some former Apple executives apparently hope that a new "dark-horse" candidate will emerge. Ternus is considered to be the most likely candidate to succeed Cook as CEO. The report notes that he is more likely to become CEO than software head chief Craig Federighi, ...
ios 18 to ios 26 upgrade

Apple Pushes iPhone Users Still on iOS 18 to Upgrade to iOS 26

Tuesday December 2, 2025 11:09 am PST by
Apple is encouraging iPhone users who are still running iOS 18 to upgrade to iOS 26 by making the iOS 26 software upgrade option more prominent. Since iOS 26 launched in September, it has been displayed as an optional upgrade at the bottom of the Software Update interface in the Settings app. iOS 18 has been the default operating system option, and users running iOS 18 have seen iOS 18...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds iOS 26.2 and iPadOS 26.2 Release Candidates to Developers and Public Beta Testers

Wednesday December 3, 2025 10:33 am PST by
Apple today seeded the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 26.2 and iPadOS 26.2 updates to developers and public beta testers, with the software coming two weeks after Apple seeded the third betas. The release candidates represent the final versions of iOS 26.2 and iPadOS 26.2 that will be provided to the public if no further bugs are found during this final week of testing....

Top Rated Comments

DoctorTech Avatar
78 months ago
This article finally made me realize why there have been so many negative comments about Tim Cook's leadership at Apple. Tim is very customer (outward) focused rather than process / product (inward) focused. He is also very good at being customer focused. That is NOT a bad thing as he has CXOs and VPs reporting to him who are more internally focused. I frequently disagree with him on politics but I still respect him as a leader and he is a great face / spokesperson for the Apple brand.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
otternonsense Avatar
78 months ago

Say what you want about Tim Cook but he is good at this kind of stuff. And it’s something Steve Jobs never did. I wish the Apple board would promote Jeff Williams to run the company and let Tim Cook focus on this kind of stuff. He’s much better at this than product development.
Whereas Jobs had a deep appreciation for (Japanese) culture, spirituality, innovation, design and aesthetics, Cook is typically all about the exposure and the goofy-two-shoes photo ops with kids.

I agree that someone else should take up product stewardship because it's clear Apple’s product design language, cadence and innovation have languished since 2011. Tim just doesn't care about product.

Is Jeff Williams the right person though?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
farewelwilliams Avatar
78 months ago
Japan is an amazing place. Everyone that I know that visited Japan the first time wants to go back and visit yearly.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Baymowe335 Avatar
78 months ago
Tokyo is perhaps the best city in the world.

An amazing place with amazing people.


This article finally made me realize why there have been so many negative comments about Tim Cook's leadership at Apple. Tim is very customer (outward) focused rather than process / product (inward) focused. He is also very good at being customer focused. That is NOT a bad thing as he has CXOs and VPs reporting to him who are more internally focused. I frequently disagree with him on politics but I still respect him as a leader and he is a great face / spokesperson for the Apple brand.
Tim Cook is probably the best operational guy in the world.

He is extremely focused on internal process, particularly in the supply chain.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iJustines Avatar
78 months ago
Apple is innovating a lot slower and will probably go into extinction under the leadership of Tim Cook.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Peperino Avatar
78 months ago
What innovation Tim Cook is referring too?

The Pathetic Macbooks Pro 2016-19 and the worse keyboard ever
Or a 10 year old design iMac?
or a 10k Mac Pro that you cannot upgrade the internal SSD?
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)