Apple’s chief designer is leaving the company, three years after replacing Jony Ive

Apple is facing a huge staffing gap when Evans Hankey, head of hardware design, announced that she is leaving the position. Hankey has been Apple’s head of hardware design since 2019 and said she will hand over her work for the next six months before officially leaving in 2023.

Hankey’s departure marks a significant shift in Apple’s research and development department, especially given that her tenure as head of hardware design is relatively short when compared to Jony Ive’s. who held the position for 20 years before being replaced by her.

Before taking on his current role as vice president of industrial design, Hankey spent several years at Apple, reporting directly to Ive. After her promotion, she reported to CEO Jeff Williams. Both Ive and Hankey are responsible for shaping the designs of some of Apple’s most iconic devices, so whoever becomes the new division head will face a lot of pressure and public interest.

During management, although it is not clear exactly which products were influenced by Ms. Hankey’s design, Apple has removed the MacBooks with the unpopular butterfly keyboard in favor of more practical designs. as well as introducing new designs of some products such as the iMac M1.

With Hankey’s departure, a lot of speculation has surfaced about Apple’s production of ambitious products, such as VR headsets and AR glasses. As the company is getting ready to start breaking new ground with its upcoming devices, having a new, unknown hardware designer directing everything will turn all projects in the future. The future is a big question mark.

And it’s also a big question mark for the tech giant’s own future, because product design has long been an important part of shaping the value and style of its products. However, in addition to helping design many iconic products, Hankey is also credited as an inventor with hundreds of patents and filings.

The elegance and sophistication of Apple’s products – including the once revolutionary idea of ​​a phone that was just a screen – helped fuel the company’s comeback under Steve Jobs. And it continues to be a key differentiator under Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook, helping to knock out rivals like Samsung and Amazon to make Apple the world’s most valuable business. The company is on track to hit $400 billion in revenue this year, a new record, according to analysts’ estimates.

Apple confirmed that Ms. Hankey will step down.

Ms. Hankey’s departure also marks the first time Apple has gone without a chief design officer since co-founder Steve Jobs regained control of the company in the late 1990s and appointed Ive to the position. It is unclear if Hankey will join another company.

Alan Dye, Apple’s head of software and user interface design, will remain at the company. Meanwhile Gary Butcher, one of the top designers and currently the vice president of design at Airbnb, is returning to Apple, according to Bloomberg sources.

See Bloomberg, DigitalTrends