A look at Elon Musk's one-sided feud with Apple

The Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, is no stranger to public clashes, but few have been as one-sided as his feud with Apple.

While Apple and its CEO Tim Cook rarely respond, Musk has repeatedly aimed at the iPhone giant’s products, leadership, and policies.

What began as a jab nearly a decade ago has turned into an ongoing saga of digs, tweets, and dramatic threats.

Here’s a look back at the key moments.

Tesla Graveyard remark (2015)

Musk first mocked Apple by calling it the “Tesla Graveyard,” claiming the company hired engineers Tesla had rejected.

He also dismissed rumors of an Apple car and poked fun at the Apple Watch, suggesting cars were far too complex for Apple’s approach.

CEO drama with Tim Cook (2016)

According to Tim Higgins’ book Power Play, Musk reportedly demanded to become Apple’s CEO during acquisition talks.

When Cook realised Musk meant CEO of Apple and not just Tesla, he allegedly hung up after an expletive.

Apple’s magic is gone (2018)

In a Recode interview, Musk said Apple’s devices no longer “blow people’s minds” the way they once did, contrasting that with Tesla’s ambition to create “heart-stopping” products.

iPhone software slam (2020)

At the Satellite 2020 conference, Musk criticized iPhone software updates, saying they had “broken” his email system.

App Store and advertising attacks (2021–2022)

Musk repeatedly blasted Apple’s App Store fees, calling them a “global tax on the internet.” 

In 2022, he also accused Apple of pausing ad spending on Twitter (now X), publicly pressing Cook with, “What’s going on here @tim_cook?”

OpenAI and Apple intelligence (2024)

At WWDC 2024, Musk mocked Apple’s AI announcements and threatened to ban Apple devices from his companies, calling the features “creepy spyware.”

Grok vs App Store (2025)

Most recently, Musk accused Apple of antitrust violations after his AI chatbot Grok was excluded from trending charts, despite outperforming rivals like ChatGPT.