Apple Inc. (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook took home $74.3 million in 2025, which sounds like a lot of money—and it is. To put it in perspective, that's enough to buy 92,984 of the iPhone 17 devices his company launched in September at $799 each. Not that anyone needs that many phones, but it's a fun way to think about executive compensation.

Breaking Down Cook's Pay Package

Cook has led Apple since 2011, when he stepped into the enormous shoes left by co-founder Steve Jobs. Since then, he's guided the company through remarkable growth and multiple milestones. Here's what Apple's latest filing reveals about his 2025 compensation:

• Salary: $3,000,000
• Stock Awards: $57,535,293
• Non-Equity Incentives: $12,000,000
• Other Compensation: $1,759,518
• Total Compensation: $74,294,811

His base salary held steady at $3 million, and the non-equity incentives remained unchanged from 2024. Stock awards dipped modestly from $58.1 million the previous year, while other compensation ticked up slightly. Overall, Cook earned marginally less than his 2024 total of $74.6 million.

While not every company has disclosed CEO pay data yet, Cook likely ranks among the top five highest-paid executives again this year. He placed fifth in 2024's rankings based on total compensation.

The Performance Paradox

Here's where things get interesting. Cook received this substantial pay package even as Apple stock underperformed relative to major benchmarks. The stock climbed 11.5% in 2025—nothing to sneeze at—but trailed both the S&P 500's 16.6% gain and the Nasdaq 100's 20.4% surge. Among the vaunted Magnificent Seven tech stocks, Apple ranked fourth.

That underperformance came despite Apple setting multiple company records in its fourth quarter, reported in October. But Cook isn't dwelling on what's behind him. He's looking ahead, and his predictions are bullish.

Record-Breaking Quarters Ahead

"We are incredibly excited about the strength we're seeing across our products and services, and we expect the December quarter's revenue to be the best ever for the company and the best ever for iPhone," Cook said about the upcoming first quarter results.

Apple's Chief Financial Officer Kevin Parekh added some numbers to Cook's optimism. "From today we expect our December quarter total company revenue to grow by 10% to 12% year-over-year, which would be our best quarter ever," Parekh explained.

Let's do the math. Apple reported $124.3 billion in revenue during last year's first quarter, which was a company record at the time. A 10% to 12% increase would push this year's first quarter revenue to somewhere between $136.7 billion and $139.2 billion. That's genuinely impressive.

Parekh also predicted "our best iPhone quarter ever," with iPhone revenue expected to grow by double digits year over year. iPhone revenue hit $69.14 billion in last year's first quarter. Even at a conservative 10% growth rate, that would mean at least $76 billion this quarter. For context, the company just reported fourth-quarter iPhone revenue of $49 billion.

Why You Shouldn't Bet Against Cook

Sure, Apple underperformed in 2025 relative to the broader market. But zoom out and the picture changes dramatically. Since Cook took the reins in August 2011, Apple stock has skyrocketed 1,829%. That's not a typo—the stock is up more than eighteen-fold under his leadership.

With multiple revenue records potentially on the horizon and a track record that speaks for itself, counting out Tim Cook might be the real expensive mistake.