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Apple's Design Team Will Soon Report Directly to Tim Cook

When Jeff Williams leaves his position as Apple's Chief Operating Officer later this year, Apple CEO Tim Cook will apparently be taking over the design team leadership.

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Right now, Williams oversees Apple's design efforts, but when he departs, Apple says that the design team will "transition to reporting directly to Cook."

Williams is in charge of several departments at Apple, and he has been overseeing Apple's design team since 2023. After Apple designer Jony Ive left Apple in 2019, Evans Hankey took over as Apple's design lead. Hankey left Apple in 2022, but Apple opted not to replace Hankey. Instead, the design team began reporting to Williams, and now it will report to Cook. Apple's design team includes software designers and hardware designers,

Williams is stepping down as Apple's Chief Operating Officer later this month, but he will continue to lead the design team, Apple's health initiatives, and the Apple Watch development until he leaves the company at the end of the year.

Apple's longtime senior vice president of Operations Sabih Khan will take over as Chief Operating Officer to continue overseeing Apple supply chains.

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Top Rated Comments

turbineseaplane Avatar
16 months ago
If only Tim was a product guy




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Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
16 months ago
Former logistics manager turned CEO now oversees design.

What could go wrong?
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
xaqt93 Avatar
16 months ago
I know I will sound like a broken record, but I would love it if they brought Scott Forstall back to the game.

Personally, I would also love to see someone new take over the design team...I know, contradictory to what I just said, but I am wanting something completly new. I also want an OS that really works. Right now, I am on the betas for everything...and I can deal with MOST bugs...and I 100% get that I am on the beta...but HomeKit bugs are such a no go...I have a really intricate HomeKit set up and every single time I update...my entire house goes into chaos. Haha.
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
xaqt93 Avatar
16 months ago

At this point I wasn’t the biggest Forestall fan, but he’d have way more of a clue than Tim Cook has. Tim lives in his own little bubble… He’s not a leader, he’s just a puppet for the shareholder that also don’t have a clue.
I couldn't agree more with this. He cares more about shareholders than the end users. And it's seriously gotten frustrating.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
canadianreader Avatar
16 months ago
I don't think having Tim Cook reviewing hardware and software designs is a good idea and it's a little too late the iPhone 17 is already in production it'll be the ugliest iPhone ever made




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Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
16 months ago

Sad to hear the design team is departing. Maybe they can hire Jonny Ive back?
So he can kill off the ports again, and then the screens too? Screens are so 1900s.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)