Ive: The designer who helped Apple become first trillion-dollar company

Jony Ive has shocked Silicon Valley by walking away from the iPhone maker after 25 years.

It was, for many, a shock. Sir Jony Ive, the Chingford-born mastermind behind the iPhone, iPod and iMac, announced this week that he’s leaving Apple after more than a quarter of a century.

His departure has been hailed as the “end of an era” and a move that raises questions about Apple’s future.

“My Apple world feels a bit ripped apart this morning,” one writer for Apple blog The Loop said. “This feels like a friendly but still quite painful divorce.”

However, Sir Jony’s exit has been a long time coming. In 2015, the mild-mannered designer told The New Yorker that he was “deeply, deeply tired”. Not long after, Apple announced that Sir Jony had stepped back from day-to-day management of the design team to allow him to take a break.

In the years since, the 52-year-old is believed to have gradually shed even more responsibility.

“He’s been at Apple over 25 years, and it’s a really taxing job,” an insider told Bloomberg. “It’s been an extremely tense 25 years for him at Apple and there’s a time for everyone to slow down.”

Sir Jony has never been one to follow the rules or subscribe to the unquestioning enthusiasm shown by some Silicon Valley bosses.