Apple’s Chief Design Officer Jony Ive returns to helm of design teams

Apple's Chief Design Officer Jony Ive has returned to day-to-day management of the company's design teams after two years. Ive, in the meantime, was handling managerial duties on other key projects including the 'spaceship' campus in Cupertino.

Ive, who had led Apple's design teams since 1996, was behind many of the company's most iconic designs, from early iMacs that came in translucent jelly-bean colours to the first iPhone.

In 2015, Ive was named chief design officer, reporting directly to CEO Tim Cook. He then handed off some administrative duties to Apple design executives Alan Dye and Richard Howarth to focus on broader efforts like Apple's retail stores and new "spaceship" campus in Cupertino, Apple Park.

Dye and Howarth will now report to Ive once again.

"With the completion of Apple Park, Apple's design leaders and teams are again reporting directly to Jony Ive, who remains focused purely on design," Apple spokeswoman Amy Bessette told Reuters.

Bloomberg reported the move earlier.

Ive will return to Apple's core team at a time when the company has continued to scale new heights under the leadership of Tim Cook. While Apple has projected its best quarter, mostly driven by its iPhone X, the company is facing a slew of challenges such as meeting the demand for the anniversary special iPhone as well as a delay in availability of its first-ever Siri-based smart home speaker, HomePod.

For both HomePod and iPhone X, Apple had drawn flak by some critics for not being 'innovative' enough, and mostly catching up with their Android rivals. Ive's return, however, could make a big impact.