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If you are among the true fans of Apple, then you certainly know about the departure of the chief designer. Jony Ive, who has worked at Apple since 1992 and at one time even held the position of vice president of product design for a number of products, finally left the company in 2019. It was terrible news for Apple fans. The Cupertino giant thus lost a person who was at the birth of the most popular products and directly participated in their appearance. After all, this is precisely why apple pieces bet on simple lines.

Although Jony Ive had a huge share in the appearance of the mentioned products, it is still often mentioned that he rather harmed the company in recent years. According to various speculations, it used to work quite well, when he was able to present his visions and then make possible concessions for the sake of functionality. However, after the death of Steve Jobs, he should have had a freer hand. Of course, it is necessary to take into account that Ive is primarily a designer and a fan of art, and therefore it is more or less understandable that he is willing to sacrifice a bit of comfort for the price of perfect design. At least that's how it looks when looking at today's products.

After the departure of Apple's chief designer, interesting changes came

As we mentioned above, Jony Ive emphasized simple lines, while he took great pleasure in thinning out the products. So he left Apple completely in 2019. In the same year, an interesting change came with the introduction of the then-generation iPhone 11 (Pro), which was significantly different from its predecessors. While the earlier iPhone X and XS had a relatively thin body, with the "elevens" Apple bet on the exact opposite, thanks to which it was able to bet on a larger battery and increase battery life. This is one of those cases where functionality trumps design, as most people would rather add a few grams to their device than have to constantly search for a charger. A fundamental design change for iPhones came the following year. The design of the iPhone 12 is based on the iPhone 4 and therefore offers sharp edges. On the other hand, the question is how far ahead these phones are developing at all. It is possible that design changes were agreed upon earlier.

Considerable changes have also come in the field of Apple computers. We can mention Mac Pro or Pro Display XDR right away. According to available information, Ive still participated in them. We then had to wait for another "design revolution" some Friday. It wasn't until 2021 that the redesigned 24″ iMac, powered by the M1 chip, appeared in a completely new guise. In this regard, Apple has taken the liberty, as the desktop is available in 7 different colors and brings a number of interesting changes. Subsequently, it turned out that despite the departure of the chief designer in 2019, he still participated in the design of this device.

Apple MacBook Pro (2021)
Redesigned MacBook Pro (2021)

Perhaps the biggest changes since his departure didn't come until the end of 2021. That's when the Cupertino giant introduced the redesigned 14" and 16" MacBook Pro, which not only brought the first professional Apple Silicon chips, but also fulfilled the wishes of many apple lovers and changed its coat as well. Although the new body is larger, it may appear that it is a years-old device, but on the other hand, thanks to this, we could welcome the return of popular ports such as MagSafe, HDMI or an SD card reader.

Design popularity

Jony Ive is the undisputed icon of Apple today, who has a major influence on where the company is today. Unfortunately, apple growers react differently to its effects today. While some (rightly) call upon his work - as he advocated for the design of the iPhone, iPod, MacBooks and iOS - others tend to criticize him. And they have a reason too. In 2016, Apple laptops received a rather strange redesign, when they came with a significantly thinner body and relied only on USB-C/Thunderbolt ports. Although these pieces looked wonderful at first glance, they carried with them a number of shortcomings. Due to the imperfect heat dissipation, the apple growers had to deal with overheating and lower performance practically every day, which alternated practically endlessly.

Jony Ive
Jony Ive

Inside these Macs beat high-quality Intel processors, but they emitted more heat than the laptop's body could handle. The problem was subsequently solved only with the arrival of Apple Silicon chips. These are built on a different ARM architecture, thanks to which they are not only more powerful and energy efficient, but also do not generate as much heat. This is exactly where we follow up on the earlier words from the introduction. So some Apple fans believe that during the time of Steve Jobs, their collaboration was a prime example of a synergistic effect. Subsequently, however, design was favored over functionality. Do you share this opinion as well, or was the error in something else?

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