Jony Ive

Before joining Apple in 1992, Ive worked for the London design consultancy Tangerine.^1,2 Apple made him senior vice president of industrial design in 1997 under Steve Jobs.² Apple promoted him to the newly created position of chief design officer in 2015, passing day-to-day management of industrial and software design to other leaders.^2,3

Jony Ive stated that his work in the new role would include Apple’s retail stores and its new campus.³ Tim Cook credited Ive with about 5,000 design and utility patents.³ Ive was among the designers behind the iMac and iPod.¹

Jony Ive described the protruding iPhone 6 camera lens as a practical trade-off that allowed a thinner phone.¹ Jony Ive said that Apple initially favored a 5.7-inch screen for an iPhone, but later judged it too large.¹ A Guardian account of Ian Parker’s New Yorker profile described it as based on unusual access to Ive and noted the print version ran to about 20 pages.¹ The Guardian also listed Chris Martin, Bono, Yo-Yo Ma, Paul Smith, Marc Newson, JJ Abrams, and Stephen Fry among people described as Ive’s friends.¹

Ive co-founded the creative collective LoveFrom and launched scholarships for aspiring designers in the United States and the United Kingdom.⁵ In July 2021, Ive and Prince Charles launched the Terra Carta Design Lab in partnership with the Royal College of Art.⁴ The lab invited design students to develop high-impact, low-cost solutions for Nature, People, and Planet, and offered winning teams financial support and the opportunity for mentorship from Ive.⁴

California College of the Arts named Ive its 2021 gala honoree and announced plans to award him an honorary doctorate at its virtual commencement on May 10.⁷ The college stated that its annual spring gala supports student scholarships.⁷

According to 9to5Mac, Ive has been involved in designing an AI hardware device for OpenAI; reporting describes its schedule as delayed, a point on which the panel's sources or readings disagree.² Jony Ive said the project depended on support and investment from Laurene Powell Jobs.² A separate 9to5Mac item said OpenAI’s policy chief indicated 2026 might be the year of the company’s first hardware product.²

The Guardian reported that Ferrari’s first electric vehicle, the Luce, was designed with Ive and would start at $640,000.⁶ Ferrari described the design as simplified to serve the driving experience.⁶ Some analysts questioned whether it suited the company’s established identity, while Pierre-Olivier Essig of AIR Capital compared its appearance to a Honda Accord EV and a Tesla Model 3.⁶

After the Luce launch, Ferrari shares fell by as much as 8% in Tuesday morning trading in Milan before recovering to a 6% decline.⁶ Jony Ive and Laurene Powell Jobs acknowledged that the iPhone contributed to what they described as a “dark” side of technology.²