Apple’s Top Executive Uses a Whoop — What That Says About the Company’s $100 Billion Apple Watch Problem

Why It Matters

The drift threatens Apple’s wearables revenue stream and could cede market leadership to niche players, forcing a strategic pivot before the next product cycle.

Key Takeaways

• Apple Watch generated roughly $100 billion in lifetime sales.
• Former COO Jeff Williams and other leaders have retired or left.
• Exec Eddy Cue publicly uses Whoop, signaling internal preference for screenless wearables.
• Competitors Whoop and Oura built multibillion‑dollar AI‑driven health insights.
• Apple’s Mulberry AI health coach project has been scaled back.

Pulse Analysis

Since its 2015 debut, the Apple Watch has become the benchmark for consumer wearables, driving an estimated $100 billion in cumulative sales and anchoring Apple’s health‑focused ecosystem. Yet the device’s design cadence has slowed, and a wave of senior departures—including former COO Jeff Williams, Fitness+ leader Jay Blahnik and health‑marketing chief Stan Ng—signals internal uncertainty. Analysts note that without fresh leadership, the watch risks becoming a legacy product rather than a growth engine. Apple now leans on limited‑time promotions to spur incremental sales, a tactic that underscores the watch’s waning organic demand.

Meanwhile, competitors such as Whoop and Oura are reshaping the market with screenless bands and rings that deliver AI‑powered wellness insights for a subscription fee. These firms have built multibillion‑dollar businesses by focusing on sleep, strain and recovery metrics that Apple’s Health app still lags behind. The fact that senior Apple executive Eddy Cue publicly relies on Whoop underscores a cultural shift toward minimalist, data‑rich wearables that prioritize continuous monitoring over flashy displays. The AI algorithms powering Whoop and Oura draw from millions of anonymized data points, delivering personalized recovery scores that Apple has yet to replicate at scale. Apple’s response has been mixed.

The ambitious Mulberry AI health‑coaching platform was recently scaled back, suggesting the company is re‑evaluating its AI roadmap. With Tim Cook’s planned exit in September, incoming CEO John Ternus faces a choice: double down on incremental watch upgrades or launch a new class of screenless health device that can compete on insight depth and subscription revenue. A subscription‑based health service linked to new hardware could generate recurring revenue, but only if Apple matches the data fidelity of its rivals. The decision will shape Apple’s wearables outlook and could determine whether the $100 billion watch franchise remains a profit pillar or becomes a relic.