Jony Ive's modular jacket for Moncler features innovative magnetic "duo buttons." Photo: Moncler/LoveFrom
Former Apple design chief Jony Ive designed a modular jacket for Italian luxury brand Moncler. Naturally, it comes with built-in magnets. Ive reinvented the button with a new, super-clever magnetic clasp for the jacket/poncho collection.
“There wasn’t some arrogant ambition around disruption [of buttons],” Ive said, in typical Ive-speak. “It was a very gentle, humble exploration.”
Jony Ive left Apple in 2019 and founded design firm LoveFrom. Photo: Vanity Fair/YouTube
Former Apple design chief Jony Ive and OpenAI are trying to raise $1 billion to build the “iPhone of artificial intelligence,” according to a new report.
The article builds on previous media items about Ive brainstorming with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on the project.
The iPhone 15 might slay when it comes to data transfers and charging times. Image: Cult of Mac
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: We always expect Apple silicon to make our smartphones faster, but iPhone 15 could be a speed demon in unsuspected ways. Like, it might deliver 80 times faster data transfers through the port that replaces Lightning. Anyone who moves large files around should be thrilled with the latest iPhone 15 rumor. And that’s not all …
Also on The CultCast:
iPhone 15 might charge at extreme speeds, too.
Why is iPhone 14 taking a beating over its battery life?
Next year’s Apple Watch X could bring the major redesign we’ve all been waiting for.
Erfon does a surprise live unboxing of a great gift sent in by a CultCast listener.
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.
The iPhone 15 rumors are becoming clearer ... Image: Cult of Mac
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The latest iPhone 15 rumors paint a somewhat troubling picture. This year’s models might look a lot like last year’s models, which already seemed pretty darn familiar. Plus, is that camera hump really going to get even bigger? And will we once again revert to non-parity between Pro models, so you have to go ridiculously large to get the best features? Oh dear …
Also on The CultCast:
The iOS 17 public betas arrive, but should you really install them on your daily driver? Our lousy experiences with the buggy software make that a pretty hard no unless you’ve got extreme tolerance for iPhone malfunctions.
Craving that bigger iMac we heard about recently? Better put on your waiting pants.
Jony Ive returns to hardware design with a very pricey product. Meanwhile, his precious $300 book Designed by Apple in California would have made a very smart investment.
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.
Jony Ive's design firm LoveFrom worked on the new Linn Sondek LP12-50 turntable. Photo: Linn Products Limited
If Apple made a turntable, would it cost $60,000? Almost certainly not, but that’s the lofty price tag on the new 50th anniversary Linn Sondek LP12-50, sketched out by former Apple chief designer Jony Ive and his firm LoveFrom.
It’s his first hardware design project since leaving Apple in 2019. And he did it for free.
You're probably going to wish you bought the thing when it was merely expensive. Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac
When former Apple design honcho Jony Ive released his super-premium Apple design book in 2016, a lot of folks thought it was an overpriced ego trip. After all, Designed by Apple in California went for $299 for the large size and $199 for the small size.
And now? Well, now you’d be lucky to get the fancy coffee-table books for dollar amounts in the high hundreds and low thousands.
When it comes to laptops, size matters! Image: Cult of Mac
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The upcoming 15.5-inch MacBook Air might be the perfect laptop for many people. In fact, Erfon plans to buy one almost immediately. And he might get his chance in as little as six weeks! How can he contain his excitement?
Also on The CultCast:
What’s next for iPhone 15?
“Periscope lens” is a strange term, and one of these things is likely coming in the next iPhone Pro Max. Let’s discuss!
The MagSafe cable gets a … software upgrade. Welcome to 2023. 🤣
Sir Jony Ive designs a logo fit for a king. Literally.
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below, along with this week’s CultCast show notes.
We've got our ears all cleaned out and ready to listen. Image: Cult of Mac
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The first reviews of the 2023 HomePod make Apple’s updated smart speaker sound pretty formidable. We can’t wait to hear for ourselves. (Unfortunately, if you didn’t already place your HomePod order, you’re probably looking at a substantial hang time.)
Also on The CultCast:
An iPad with a folding screen might be just around the corner.
Retina alert: Apple Watch Ultra might get an even bigger, brighter screen next year.
Former Apple design chief Jony Ive’s latest creation is … a bright red nose!
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.
Apple apparently does not plan to replace departing industrial design chief Evans Hankey. Photo: Adrian Regeci/Unsplash License
Apple reportedly stopped looking for a replacement industrial design chief. This is surprising, as it’s a high-profile position once held by Jony Ive, who led the team that created the iconic look of the iPhone, iMac and more.
The corporate rearrangement increases the power of Jeff Williams — Apple’s chief operating officer and possibly Tim Cook’s eventual replacement as CEO.
Has Jony Ive sniffed out a new sideline? His new paper nose looks pretty good on this guy. Photo: Comic Relief
Legendary Apple design chief Jony Ive, responsible for the look and feel of iconic products like iPhone, grabbed headlines Wednesday for a new creation — a big, red paper nose. That may sound odd, but it’s for a good cause.
Ive and his team came up with the nose to go along with Red Nose Day, March 17. That’s charity Comic Relief’s day of giving in the U.K. and around the world to help end poverty, particularly among children.
Evans Hankey, fourth from left in the front row, is leaving Apple. Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac
Three years after the influential Jony Ive vacated the role of hardware design chief at Apple, it’s opening up again, according to a report.
Vice President of Industrial Design Evans Hankey, who stepped into the top job in 2019, plans to step down. And Cupertino hasn’t said yet who will take over when she goes.
A new archive will celebrate Steve Jobs' life and values with an array of materials and programs. Photo: Ben Stanfield/Flickr CC
Something unexpected came out of Vox Media’s Code conference Wednesday — a birth announcement for The Steve Jobs Archive. The new repository celebrates the Apple co-founder’s life and strives to share his values. Various programs are planned.
In a panel discussion, Apple CEO Tim Cook, former design honcho Jon Ivy and Jobs’ widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, discussed the man’s legacy and introduced the archive.
Basic Apple Guy's new wallpaper is based on Jony Ive's work. Photo: Basic Apple Guy
Designer and Apple maven Basic Apple Guy offered a delightful surprise Friday with his new “Apple Stage” wallpaper for Mac, iPad and iPhone.
The stunning rainbow wallpaper sports a design inspired by the real-life, six-color stage structure created by Cupertino design legend Jony Ive at Apple Park.
Nobody's got anything bad to say about the new MacBook Air. Image: Cult of Mac
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Everyone’s raving about the new M2-powered MacBook Air — and so are we. Although Erfon just bought a different Apple laptop (and offers up a pro tip for anybody thinking of getting the hot new MBA).
Also on The CultCast:
Bye-bye, Jony Ive. We’re gonna miss ya. Mostly.
The emoji people scrape the bottom of the barrel.
Toys are about to get personal (but brace yourself for disfigured plastic selfies).
BMW foists an outrageous subscription plan on car buyers.
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video livestream, embedded below.
Apple's Industrial Design team at the Apple Watch unveiling. Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac
Now that Jony Ive and Apple have finally severed ties completely, it’s time for Cupertino’s current Industrial Design team to get the recognition it deserves.
Ive’s old Industrial Design team at Apple has been doing stellar work in his absence, but without getting the full credit. As long as Ive was still an Apple consultant, the credit was muddied: Was this Ive’s work or someone else’s?
Jony Ive has ended his partnership with Apple, ending a very productive 30-year relationship. Photo: Nick Knight
Jony Ive’s 30-year partnership with Apple is over.
Ive and Apple have reportedly severed ties completely, ending a relationship that spanned more than three decades and resulted in some of Apple’s biggest products, including the iPhone, iMac, Apple Watch, spaceship campus, numerous retail stores and much more.
Steve Jobs and the iPod make the cover of NewsWeek. Photo: NewsWeek
Editor’s note: We originally published this illustrated history of the iPod to celebrate the device’s 10th anniversary on Oct. 22, 2011 (and updated it a decade later). We republished it on May 10, 2022, when Apple finally pulled the plug on the iPod.
The iPod grew out of Steve Jobs’ digital hub strategy. Life was going digital. People were plugging all kinds of devices into their computers: digital cameras, camcorders, MP3 players.
The computer was the central device, the “digital hub,” that could be used to edit photos and movies or manage a large music library. Jobs tasked Apple’s programmers with making software for editing photos, movies and managing digital music. While they were doing this, they discovered that all the early MP3 players were horrible. Jobs asked his top hardware guy, Jon Rubinstein, to see if Apple could do better.
Want to be like Jony Ive? Here's about $10,000 worth of tools to carry with you every day. Photo: Apple
Former Apple design chief Jony Ive recently served as a guest editor for the UK’s Financial Times. In the magazine’s “How to Spend It” issue, he lists a dozen tools he finds indispensable for “making.”
More specifically, these are his top picks “for making, for marking, for measuring, and carrying with you every day.”
But don’t break your neck craning to see if he included any Apple items, or even computing products. He didn’t.
The Solo Loop for Apple Watch comes in nine sizes and seven colors. Photo: Apple
One of the many things that set an Apple Watch apart from traditional watches is the massive selection of inexpensive straps. Cupertino made installing Apple Watch bands so easy that you can change up your look on a dime — and for almost that little money.
While seemingly millions of options exist for a mere $10 or so, Apple makes some of the best bands in the business. They cost a little more than most, but they may be worth it.
And one band, in particular, stands as the “most ambitious” watch band Apple ever made, according to Evans Hankey, Apple’s VP of industrial design.
The HDMI port, MagSafe charger and SD card reader in the new 2021 MacBook Pro models prove Apple design is back on track. Photo: Apple
In 2016, Apple proudly unveiled a new MacBook Pro that rejected the HDMI port, the MagSafe charger and the SD card reader of the past. Fast forward to 2021, and the company just released new MacBook Pro models with an HDMI port, MagSafe and SD card reader.
Why the reversal? Apple’s head of design Jony Ive left in 2019 after decades with the company. His tendency to push form over function led Cupertino down the wrong path in many ways. And Apple is just now undoing mistakes Ive was responsible for. Like taking out ports that most buyers wanted.
“Engineered for optimal haptic feedback to deliver the satisfying feeling of… click.” Screenshot: Google
A new video for the Google Pixel 5a pokes fun at the ones Jony Ive used to make gushing about the smallest details in designs of Apple products.
While an homage, the video also exhibits a cutting edge. It highlights the new Android smartphone’s headphone jack, a feature Ive removed from iPhones. Still, Apple fans shouldn’t miss this well-made parody:
Ive left Apple in 2019 to found his own design firm. Photo: Apple
Former Apple design boss Jony Ive has hired at least four of his former Cupertino colleagues to work at his LoveFrom design firm, according to The Information.
Since leaving Apple in 2019, Ive reportedly hired Chris Wilson, Patch Kessler, Jeff Tiller and Wan Si. All four worked with Ive in Apple’s design team. Wilson created GUI elements such as icons and menus. Kessler worked in product design and helped create the MacBook Force Touch trackpad. And Tiller is a communications specialist who worked for the Apple design team.
The latest hire is Wan, who designed on app icons, home screens and buttons.
Jony Ive has ended his partnership with Apple, ending a very productive 30-year relationship. Photo: Nick Knight
Former Apple design chief Jony Ive emphasized the power of imagination and innovation in a virtual commencement address to graduating students from the California College of the Arts.
“Without imagination, without profoundly new thinking, and potent ideas, our practice has no purpose,” Ive said in a stylized video against a black background.
Steve Jobs only turned off his phone while hanging out with Apple design chief Jony Ive. Photo: Ben Stanfield/Flickr CC
Steve Jobs didn’t turn off his phone often. But if he did, it probably meant that he was in Jony Ive’s Industrial Design department, where Jobs relaxed by scouring prototypes of future Apple products.
That’s according to Jobs’ former assistant, Naz Beheshti, in a new book titled Pause. Breathe. Choose: Become the CEO of Your Well-Being. While the book focuses mainly on Beheshti’s practice as a wellness coach, it includes a few memories of her time at Apple. Including how Apple staffers would go into meltdown when they couldn’t reach Jobs — and how they eventually figured out where this meant he was.
Happy birthday, Apple! The company turns 45 today. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
Today marks 45 years since a little outfit called the Apple Computer Company was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. Apple set out to build and sell personal computers. Since then, it’s risen from a hobbyist startup to a tech giant valued at more than $2 trillion.
In the last four and a half decades, Apple changed the tech world in all kinds of ways — some big, some small. Here, in no particular order, are 45 of the most notable ways Apple put a ding in the universe.