In the days of St Steve Jobs, the role was once held by Sir Jony Ive and Hankey reported to him for several years. Since 2019 she has reported to Jeff Williams, Apple's chief operating officer. She manages dozens of industrial designers at the company.

Hankey announced her departure this week, saying she will stay for six months while Apple works out its future plans for the industrial design team. She has not publicly said what her next move is.

It's unclear what this will mean for Apple's hardware design team.  Apple has been seeing delays across major hardware projects underway, including the long-delayed mixed-reality headset along, then the new person will have to come up with something original for the iPhone, Macs, iPads, and wearables like the Apple Watch and AirPods.