Apple to Drop “Head of Industrial Design” Role, Jeff Williams and Design, My Updated Apple Earnings Model (Daily Update)
Hello everyone. In today’s update, we will focus on a news item related to Apple design that came out the same day that Apple reported 1Q23 earnings. We conclude with Neil’s updated Apple earnings model and how the model changed following Apple’s 1Q23 results and 2Q23 guidance commentary. Access to Neil’s Apple earnings model is a benefit associated with Above Avalon membership at no additional cost. Let’s jump right in.
Apple to Drop “Head of Industrial Design” Role
Over at Bloomberg, here’s Mark Gurman:
“Apple Inc. has decided against naming a new executive to replace its departing top product designer, marking a stark shift for a company long celebrated for the look and feel of its devices.
The iPhone maker’s vice president of industrial design, Evans Hankey, won’t be replaced when she leaves the company in the coming months, according to people with knowledge of the decision, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.
Instead, the company’s core group of about 20 industrial designers will report to Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer. The company will also give larger roles to a group of Apple’s longest-tenured designers. Hankey has reported to Williams since taking the job in 2019, when top designer Jony Ive left to start his own firm.”
Gurman has spent months crafting an off-the-mark narrative that turnover in Apple’s industrial design group (ID group) is hurting Apple’s attempts to find a successor to Hankey. As we will discuss shortly, there is good reason to be skeptical of such a claim.
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Apple’s Head of Industrial Design to Leave Company, Revisiting Apple Design Turnover, Apple Industrial Design Succession (Daily Update)
Hello everyone.
This is shaping up to be a busy week. Apple reports FY4Q22 earnings (results from July to September) on Thursday. As with previous quarters, Apple’s earnings release timing will result in Thursday’s daily update being pushed to Friday.
Here is how the daily updates schedule looks:
Monday: Regular update
Tuesday: Apple earnings preview
Wednesday: Regular update
Thursday: No update
Friday: Apple earnings review
Let’s jump into today’s update.
Apple’s Head of Industrial Design to Leave Company
Over at the WSJ, here’s Sarah Needleman:
“Apple Inc.’s head of industrial design is leaving the company, marking another significant loss in the department responsible for the iconic look and feel of its iPhones, Macs and other popular consumer products.
Evans Hankey took over leadership of the group three years ago, filling a void created after longtime chief design officer Jony Ive departed to start his own design firm in 2019.
An Apple spokesman said the company is well equipped to continue onward without Ms. Hankey, who will temporarily stick around as it works through the change in leadership.
‘The senior design team has strong leaders with decades of experience,’ the spokesman said. Bloomberg earlier reported the news of Ms. Hankey’s departure.”
In a sign of how few people are familiar with Apple design and its leaders, a number of inaccuracies have been circulating online about this news.
A few publications, including the WSJ, claimed Evans Hankey was departing Apple after just three years. That is false. Hankey has been part of Apple’s industrial design group for nearly two decades.
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