Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Apple’s iPhone design chief jumps ship to work with Jony Ive

By Trevor Mogg December 26, 2023

Apple’s iPhone and Watch design chief is leaving the company to work with Jony Ive, the man who led Apple’s design decisions until 2019 and who was key in creating the look of some of its most iconic products.

Tang Tan, who joined Apple a decade ago, is heading to the LoveFrom, the design firm set up by Ive after departing the tech giant four years ago, according to Apple tipster and Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman.

Citing people familiar with the matter, Gurman said that Tan will lead hardware engineering for a new project set up by Ive and Sam Altman, the AI visionary who co-founded and now heads ChatGPT creator OpenAI.

The Ive/Altman-led venture made headlines in September, with the pair reported at the time to be in talks about creating a product dubbed “the iPhone of artificial intelligence.”

There’s been no public announcement about the ambitious-sounding endeavor, but the news of Tan’s reported move to LoveFrom to help with the venture suggests that it’s still very much moving forward.

According to Gurman, Tan will “shape the look and capabilities of the new products,” but he added that the first products — apparently for the home — remain at an early development stage, with the current focus on building a team that will create concepts.

Gurman notes how Tan’s exit marks a further disintegration of the design team that Ive built at Apple, with more than a dozen members having left since Ive’s departure and only about six remaining in post. It’s reported that more than 20 personnel have moved from Apple to Ive’s LoveFrom.

With a team in place and Ive joining forces with Altman, 2024 will hopefully be the year in which the endeavor drops some big news about its ambitions or even reveals its first product. Other firms are already showcasing phone-replacement devices with AI at their core, so Ive and his crew won’t want to leave it too long before unveiling something themselves.

As for who will take over from Tan at Apple, reports suggest that rather than bringing in a replacement, his duties have been divided up among existing personnel.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Contributing Editor

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

Mobile

iPhone in space: SpaceX crew shares Earth image shot on Apple’s handset

A photo of Earth shot from space using an iPhone 12.

SpaceX’s Inspiration4 crew, which last month completed the world’s first all-civilian orbital mission, recently started sharing some incredible Earth images shot with a top-end Nikon camera.

But over the weekend, mission commander Jared Isaacman dropped another stunning shot (below), this one captured with an iPhone 12.

Cars

Apple’s former design chief Jony Ive to work with Ferrari

Apple chief design officer Jony Ive (middle) tests out a product at the 2019 Apple Worldwide Developer Conference.

Done with designing iPhones, iMacs, and other big-selling Apple gadgets, Jony Ive, the tech giant's former design guru, is turning his attention to top-end motors.
Two years after departing the tech giant as its head of design, Ive is embarking on a partnership with Ferrari, Bloomberg reported this week.

Jony Ive (left) & Tim Cook (Right) Apple
The “multiyear" collaboration will see Ferrari work with LoveFrom, the creative agency set up by Ive and fellow designer Marc Newson shortly after Ive departed Apple in 2019.
“The first expression of this new partnership will bring together Ferrari’s legendary performance and excellence with LoveFrom’s unrivaled experience and creativity that has defined extraordinary world-changing products,” Ferrari owner Exor said in a statement.
Beyond that, there’s little information on what Ive and Newson will be doing at Ferrari. Taking on an entire vehicle design? Possibly. Focusing on particular car components? Perhaps. Creating accessories for the Ferrari brand? Maybe. All will hopefully be revealed before too long, though a report in the Financial Times this week suggests the pair could be tasked with working on Ferrari’s first all-electric car, which is set to debut four years from now.
Ive has a long-running interest in vehicle design. In a 2014 interview with Time, he revealed that after he left school, he briefly attended a car-design course at London’s Royal College but was quickly put off as “the classes were full of students making vroom! vroom! noises as they drew.” The experience prompted Ive to switch to an industrial design course at a different college, a move that set him on a path that ultimately took him to Apple.
LoveFrom’s involvement with Ferrari comes nearly year after the design firm announced it was partnering with Airbnb. The collaboration was described as “a special collaboration,” though like Ferrari's announcement, details about the partnership have been scarce.

Mobile

Which of Apple’s new iPhone 13 models is kindest to your wallet?

New iPhone 13 Colors: Pink, Blue, Midnight, Starlight, & Product RED.

In case you somehow missed the news, Apple unveiled the latest iteration of the iPhone on Tuesday.

Design-wise, the new iPhone 13 looks pretty much the same as last year's iPhone 12, which reintroduced the squared-off edges that were first seen with the iPhone 4, but later dropped for the curvier iPhone 6.