Jonathon 'Jony' Ive, star designer of Apple phones and related products, has announced that he is leaving the company to set up his own firm.
Ive will depart later this year "to form an independent design company which will count Apple among its primary clients," Apple said in a statement.
Design team leaders Evans Hankey and Alan Dye will report to Jeff Williams, Apple's chief operating officer, Apple said
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Ive said the design team "will certainly thrive under the excellent leadership of Evans, Alan and Jeff, who have been among my closest collaborators."
Ive's designs in collaboration with founder Steve Jobs design inputs fuelled Apple's rise to become a $1 trillion company. "Apple will continue to benefit from Jony's talents by working directly with him on exclusive projects, and through the ongoing work of the brilliant and passionate design team he has built,” said the company's chief executive Tim Cook.
Ive, who is of British origin, has designed the iPod, iPhone, iPad, Macbook as well as the iOS software for the devices. He joined the company in 1992.
Ive's new company will be called LoveForm and will be based out of California. The firm will have other clients besides Apple.
