# Tim Cook's Apple: Bowed to Beijing, Censored Dissent, Offshored Jobs > Source: > Published: 2026-07-31 11:36:46+00:00 Tim Cook signed off on his final Apple earnings call Thursday, leaving behind a $4.9 trillion company that spent 15 years silencing dissent, bending the knee to Beijing, and offshoring American manufacturing — all while passing the bill to working Americans. Cook's departure in September gives incoming CEO John Ternus a chance to rebuild Apple as an American company that puts free expression and domestic production first. But the numbers Cook left behind show just how deep the rot goes: Apple is scrambling on supply chains, choking on memory chip prices it can't control, and still begging Beijing for permission to sell its AI products in China. Apple posted $109.4 billion in revenue and a 22% jump in iPhone sales — numbers the financial press was happy to celebrate. CNBC led with the "stronger-than-expected" headline. Fox Business called it the "strongest June quarter on record." What neither outlet shouted is that Apple's gross margins hit a record 50.1% only because of tariff refunds — money that came back after the Supreme Court struck down some of Trump's tariffs. Strip those out, and margins were roughly in line with expectations. Apple also missed on services revenue and warned of a significant deceleration ahead, with iPhone growth dropping to the "mid-teens" and total revenue growth falling short of analyst expectations. The stock slid as much as 8% after hours. Then there's the memory crisis. Cook called it a "hundred year flood" in memory pricing. DRAM prices have soared as much as 600% over two years, driven by the AI data center arms race. The result: Apple raised Mac and iPad prices by as much as $300 in June, and Cook told CNBC the situation is "difficult" and "not good for the consumer." He lamented that the memory market is controlled by just three companies — Micron, SK Hynix, and Samsung — and said Apple is "evaluating all options." This is what offshoring your supply chain looks like: you're at the mercy of foreign suppliers and you pass the pain to American buyers. Fortune buried the China angle. Fox Business gave Cook a platform to praise the U.S.-China relationship. "I was over in April for the state dinner, and I think the engagement between the countries is really good," Cook said. He's "very optimistic." He should be — Apple just got Apple Intelligence approved in China after a nearly two-year delay. Beijing let the product in; Apple played by the CCP's rules. China sales rose 22% to $18.81 billion, still short of analyst estimates. The message is clear: Cook spent years currying favor with a regime that dictates what technology its citizens can use, and Apple complied. Cook said Apple is reinvesting tariff refunds into U.S. advanced manufacturing, pointing to a $600 billion commitment over four years. That sounds impressive until you remember Apple has $146.5 billion in cash on hand and has spent years building its supply chain overseas. A vague domestic spending pledge doesn't undo a decade of offshoring. On AI, Apple is late and dependent. The company isn't building its own foundation models — it's using Google's Gemini to power the redesigned Siri launching this fall. Cook framed on-device AI as a "competitive weapon" for privacy, but the reality is Apple has been lapped by competitors and is now reliant on another Big Tech giant to deliver basic functionality. Ternus takes over a company that is profitable but fragile: dependent on foreign chips, compliant with foreign censors, and allergic to building in America. The question isn't whether Ternus can keep the stock rising. It's whether he'll run Apple for the American people who buy its products — or for the same interests Cook served.