Apple Loses Crucial Design Chief, Casting Concerns Over Its AR, VR, Electric Car Prospects

Apple Inc’s AAPL head of hardware design, Evans Hankey, will depart three years after taking the job, Bloomberg reported.
Hankey will remain at Apple for the next six months while the company is yet to name her successor. One possible candidate to assume leadership is Richard Howarth, 9 To 5 Mac reports.
Howarth briefly had the role of industrial design VP from 2015-2017, at the same time as when Jony Ive was ‘promoted’ to Chief Design Officer.
Hankey was named to the post in 2019 to replace Jony Ive, the company’s iconic design chief for two decades.
Before taking her current role as VP of industrial design, Hankey spent several years at Apple reporting to Ive. Since then, she has reported to COO Jeff Williams.
Her pending exit marks the first time Apple will be without a de facto design chief since co-founder Steve Jobs retook control of the company in the late 1990s and appointed Ive to the job.
Many of CEO Tim Cook’s critics have remarked that he has repeatedly put operations executives in charge of critical decisions, thereby diminishing the contributions of the design group.
Apple worked on critical new devices, including a mixed-reality headset for next year and augmented reality glasses. There’s also the possibility of an electric car.
Price Action: AAPL shares traded higher by 2.93% at $147.61 on the last check Friday.