Apple’s Top Hardware Designer Evans Hankey Will Leave: Report

The Cupertino, Calif. tech behemoth known for its sleek designs will have a massive role to try to fill in the next several months.

Evans Hankey, Apple Inc’s head of hardware design, is departing the company just three years after taking the role, according to Bloomberg.

Apple named Hankey to the post n 2019 to replace Jony Ive, a Steve Jobs appointee who led the company’s iconic product design for two decades. Before taking on the role, Hankey spent several years at Apple under Ive.

Apple sources told Bloomberg the departure was announced internally this week and Hankey told colleagues that she’ll stay at the company for the next six months. Apple has not named a replacement, Bloomberg reported.

Apple confirmed the news to Bloomberg on Friday.

“Apple’s design team brings together expert creatives from around the world and across many disciplines to imagine products that are undeniably Apple,” a spokesman said in a statement to Bloomberg. “The senior design team has strong leaders with decades of experience. Evans plans to stay on as we work through the transition, and we’d like to thank her for her leadership contributions.”

CRN has reached out to Apple for comment.

Apple’s financials have held solid despite an overall tech downturn, with the company on track to generate a record $400 billion in sales this year. But the company reportedly pulled back on orders for its latest iPhone release because of decreased demand for the entry models. Analysts and reviewers cited the lack of upgrades and near identical design to the iPhone 13.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives told CRN not adding its latest chipset to the entry level iPhone models was “a misstep by Apple, which is rare for them. It’s going to be a tight wire balancing act going into the holidays.”

Shares at the company have fallen 19 percent in 2022, though the stock price was up slightly to $144.62 on Friday.