The Apple designer responsible for the look of most of the company’s most iconic products — including the iPhone — is leaving after 27 years.
Jony Ive, who rose in the ranks under Steve Jobs, will be forming an independent design company called LoveFrom that will boast Apple as a client, the company said in a press release.
The 52-year-old Ive is credited with playing a major role in the design of the iPod, iPad, iPhone, Mac and more. He was most recently responsible for designing Apple’s new campus with a spaceship-shaped headquarters.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Ive said that he will still be “very involved” with Apple for “many years to come” despite not being an employee.
“This just seems like a natural and gentle time to make this change,” he said.
Whether investors agree remains to be seen.
“You don’t replace an Ive,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives told The Post.
“Ive has been a key part of the DNA in Cupertino and has been the heart of the operation there. I think it leaves a huge void at Apple.”
Ive’s departure comes as iPhone sales are slowing amid trade tensions with China, where much of the product is made.
His duties will be taken over by Apple’s vice president of industrial design, Evans Hankey, and vice president of human interface design, Alan Dye, according to Apple.
News of Ive’s departure sent Apple shares down more than 1.2 percent in extended trading, to $199.74.
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