Apple’s design team just lost another rising star. The guy who led the iPhone Air is gone, off to an AI startup.
Officially, his departure has nothing to do with the Air. But Apple fans are reading the timing differently. One flagship iPhone underwhelms, and suddenly the designer who championed it is gone. Makes you wonder.
The Air itself isn’t bad. It’s light, thin, and looks great. But the choices Apple made, one camera, a slightly underwhelming battery, a design that feels like it was engineered more for weight than wow, left people asking why it exists.
That question matters because Apple doesn’t just sell hardware. It sells confidence. And right now, a chunk of the fanbase is not confident.
And this goes beyond a single phone. Losing a designer like this is a symptom, not an anomaly.
Apple has been losing talent for years since Jony Ive left. A lot of those designers went off to startups, chasing paychecks and freedom to take bigger swings.
Apple doesn’t do that anymore. You can still make a MacBook or an iPhone look gorgeous, but there’s no room for the kind of bold bets that used to define the company.
If you’re a designer, that matters. If you’re a fan, it matters too. The Air isn’t a disaster, but it’s a quiet warning.
Apple can make thinner edges and prettier icons all it wants, but if the culture keeps leaning safe and predictable, the next designer to leave won’t be coming back, and then what happens to Apple’s edge?
