Going forward, the company’s group of “about 20” industrial designers will report to Apple COO Jeff Williams, and many of the veteran designers on the team will get larger roles, bloomberg reports. The change would significantly expand Williams’ jurisdiction; Already manages “global operations, supply chain and AppleCare customer support, as well as software engineering for the watch and health efforts” bloomberg Says. However, the publication notes that Apple could still name a new hardware design leader at some point in the future. Alan Day will continue to lead software design.
The change could mark a major shift for Apple’s legendary hardware design group by placing it directly under the direction of Williams, the company’s chief operating officer. To be fair, the team has finally been part of his band for quite some time since Haneke has been reporting to Williams since Ive’s departure.
Apple has managed design by committee since Ive’s departure since the company has split design leadership into the roles of Hankey and Dye. We’ll have to wait and see if this regulatory change might affect the way future Apple devices look.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2023 later on Thursday.
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