Oliver Haslam on April 2, 2026, 10:13 pm

Tim Cook Lauds iPhone Launch During Apple 50th Anniversary Interview

Apple CEO Tim Cook says that the iPhone launch was his favorite Apple moment in a new interview discussing Apple’s recent 50th anniversary.

Apple was founded on April 1, 1976 and has been celebrating its 50th anniversary in recent days. As part of that, CEO Cook has been speaking with The Wall Street Journal’s Ben Cohen to discuss the company’s first half decade and the products that it released during that time.

Cook gave Coken a rare look at the archival materials from Apple’s earlier days, which include items never before seen outside the company. In fact, Cook said that he also saw some of the items for the first time during the preparations for Apple’s big birthday.

During the interview, Cook said that he believed the iPhone’s original unveiling was his favorite of all of Apple’s product unveilings. When he was asked why that was the case, Cook explained his thinking.

We were using that generation’s smart phone, and it was such an awful experience. And I love the fact that all of a sudden you had this touch interface, and it worked like your mind worked.

Predictably, Cook wouldn’t be drawn on its future products, but he did hint that Apple’s next big release “finds the intersection of hardware, software, and services.”