How The Times’s Apple Reporter Covers the Company

Since 2022, Tripp Mickle has covered news surrounding one of the biggest technology companies in Silicon Valley.

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Some journalists have broad beats — animals, the entire state of California, even the cosmos.

Tripp Mickle, however, focuses on just one company: Apple. But there’s still more than enough to write about. Since joining the Business desk at The New York Times in April 2022, Mr. Mickle has reported on Apple’s flashy new Vision Pro headset, its foray into artificial intelligence and the ongoing antitrust case against the company, which has been accused by U.S. regulators of running a smartphone monopoly.

Despite having a specific beat, Mr. Mickle’s work still finds a wide audience. “It’s this incredible company that has such influence in our lives,” Mr. Mickle said in an interview. “And it’s a fortress of secrecy.”

Before writing for The Times, he dabbled in other topics, including NASCAR for Sports Business Journal, and the tobacco and alcohol industries for The Wall Street Journal. It was during his time at The Journal that Mr. Mickle decided to take a bite of the Apple beat.

In a phone conversation from his home in the Glen Park district of San Francisco, Mr. Mickle discussed how his beat has changed over the years and his experience staking out the offices of OpenAI. These are edited excerpts.

What made you decide to become a journalist?

I’ve wanted to become a journalist since I was in the fifth grade. I had a teacher who gave ribbons to students at the end of the year that tried to predict what you would pursue professionally in the future. Some of the ribbons were jokes, and some of them were serious. I was really obsessed with current events, and I liked writing, so she gave me a ribbon that read “future editor at The New York Times.” That became a point of direction for me as I looked out on the horizon and tried to figure out what to do.

Can you explain your beat to readers?

I cover Apple and now, Nvidia. One of the most fascinating things about the technology industry is that, without fail, it changes almost every three years thematically. There was a period when the major theme was regulators scrutinizing big tech firms. Now the entire tech industry has changed because of the introduction of ChatGPT and the rush to develop generative A.I.