Apple's retail chief said that reports she's Tim Cook's successor are 'fake news' (AAPL)

angela ahrendts

Apple retail head Angela Ahrendts said in a new interview that rumours she's the next CEO of Apple are "fake news."
CEO Tim Cook, however, didn't deny that Ahrendts is a potential successor.
Cook was asked about reports of supply constraints of the iPhone X and said "we'll see what happens."

Apple's retail boss Angela Ahrendts firmly denied that she's lined up to be the next CEO of the company in an interview with BuzzFeed published on October 24.

Interviewer Nicole Nguyen asked Apple CEO Tim Cook what he thought of rumours that Ahrendts could be his successor. Cook instead asked Ahrendts what she thought. "Fake news, fake news, silly, no," Ahrendts said.

Cook, however, didn't deny it, and instead said that "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."

Ahrendts joined Apple in 2013 where she was hired away from her position as CEO of fashion company Burberry. Ahrendts runs Apple's retail business — increasing the number of its stores and overseeing launches of its devices.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said on Twitter in 2013 that he thought Ahrendts was a "Future Apple CEO." And since then she has been Apple's best-paid executive.

I just saw Future Apple CEO @AngelaAhrendts on her farewell @Burberry tour! The most important hire Tim Cook has ever made!
— Marc Benioff (@Benioff) October 29, 2013

Elsewhere in the interview, Nguyen asked Cook about reports of supply constraints for Apple's upcoming iPhone X. "We'll see what happens," Cook said, "but we'll be working as hard as possible to make as many as possible."

And Cook was also asked whether he's concerned that President Trump could punish Apple for Cook's public comments opposing his policies.

"No," Cook said. "A great thing about America is you can have different opinions and different opinions have generally helped the country advance."

"We stay out of politics but we do engage on policy discussion," Cook said. "But we don't go back and forth on personality kind of stuff. That's not what we're about. I think most people look at that and even if they disagree, they respect if you're coming from an authentic place."

Watch BuzzFeed's full video interview with Cook and Ahrendts below: