Apple’s famous design team has reportedly lost another key member. According to The Information, Christopher Stringer, a 21-year veteran of the Cupertino company, has left Apple due to an ongoing “shakeup.”
Although Jony Ive typically gets the credit for famous Apple designs, Stringer was an important figure among the Apple ranks. A graduate from London’s Royal College of Art, Stringer had a hand in a number iconic Apple releases, including 2007’s iPhone, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year.
The Information reports:
Long time Apple industrial designer Christopher Stringer is leaving the company in another shakeup to Apple’s vaunted design team.
Apple’s design team has gone through multiple changes in the last two years as Jonathan Ive has stepped back from running the team. Richard Howarth now leads the team on a day-to-day basis.
This is the second high-profile departure from Apple’s design team in as many years. In April of 2016, the company’s VP of design Daniel Coster left Apple to join GoPro.
Changes are afoot
There’s been a shakeup at Apple’s design team going on a few years now. For example, Jony Ive stepped away from hardware design in 2015 to take on a more active role in “the human interface,” which is a fancy way to describe Apple’s mobile software. Perhaps Apple wants new blood to take on the designers at Samsung, who just unveiled their most beautiful smartphone yet.
Although Stringer is allegedly leaving Apple, it’s very likely he was involved in the iPhone 8, which is said to feature a similar “water drop” design first seen in the original iPhone.
