The head of industrial design at Apple is reportedly leaving the company after spending 3 years in this demanding role according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke to Bloomberg News last week.
Evans Hankey was appointed as the Cupertino-based firm’s vice president of industrial design back in 2019 in replacement of Jony Ive – the legendary designer who led the groups that came up with the company’s most popular devices.
According to Bloomberg’s sources, Hankey will spend another 6 months in the tech firm, possibly sorting out every last-minute detail before she hands over the wheels. However, Apple has not yet appointed a successor.
Who Will Succeed Evans Hankey?
In regards to how the firm will deal with Hankey’s departure, a spokesperson for Apple told the American news outlet: “The senior design team has strong leaders with decades of experience. Evans plans to stay on as we work through the transition, and we’d like to thank her for her leadership and contributions”.
Even though the former head of industrial design was never promoted to her predecessor’s role as Chief Design Officer for the iPhone maker, she has been responsible for overseeing the design process of every single product the company manufactures going down to the devices’ boxes.
Some reports have pointed to Richard Howarth as a possible successor for Hankey as he was in charge of the company’s industrial design activities back when Ive ascended to his C-level position.
Meanwhile, Alan Dye will remain as the firm’s head of human interface – the software division – at Apple (AAPL).
The departure of Evans comes at a point when Apple is developing promising product lines including a top-notch AR/VR headset, a TV, and new versions of its legacy products including the iPhone, MacBook, and IPad.
Apple has been accused by both critics and fans of introducing new versions of its products that don’t really have anything new to show for. This has been deemed as a practice that keeps the firm’s loyal customer base spending money on devices that are fairly similar or almost equal to those they already own.
The lack of a head of design could be partly to blame. However, this has not stopped the company from boasting some huge numbers when it comes to financial performance as sales have kept growing in the past few years despite the many headwinds that the global economy has faced.
Apple Keeps Exploring New Categories Going from Vehicles to AR/VR Devices
Apple has been exploring several avenues to diversify its income stream and take advantage of the current trends in the tech industry.
For example, the firm has been toying with the idea of manufacturing an electric vehicle called the Apple Car. The latest reports on this particular effort state that the firm is devoting serious time and resources to the development of this product.
The project is reportedly being led by John Giannandrea – the firm’s head of AI and machine learning – as Apple is aiming to create a fully autonomous vehicle that is also eco-friendly.
Moreover, the company founded by Steve Jobs is also diving into the virtual space and may directly compete with Meta Platforms (META) for the leadership of the up-and-coming metaverse industry although not with the same approach.
Earlier this month, the technical specifications of Apple’s upcoming mixed reality device started to come up on the internet. The reports stated that the device would include an iris scanning feature, 14 cameras, and that it will be capable of capturing leg movement.
“Imagine suddenly being able to teach with AR and demonstrate things that way. Or medically, and so on. Like I said, we are really going to look back and think about how we once lived without AR”, Tim Cook stated during an interview with Bloomberg that took place earlier this month.
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