Apple Confirms Retirement of Senior Designer Greg Christie Later This Year

Apple has confirmed the departure of Greg Christie, part of the original team behind the iPhone. His leaving the company was previously reported by 9to5Mac and was said to follow a falling out between Christie and Jony Ive, Apple’s design chief.

The WSJ reports that Christie’s “human interface” team will now report to Jonathan Ive, rather than the company’s software head Craig Federighi.

In a statement given to the Financial Times, Apple says that Christie has been planning to retire later this year and is still within the company.

Greg has been planning to retire later this year after nearly 20 years at Apple. He has made vital contributions to Apple products across the board, and built a world-class Human Interface team which has worked closely with Jony for many years.

Christie has worked with Apple since 1996 and was credited with the development of the “Slide to Unlock” feature of iPhones and iPads, though he is named as an inventor on hundreds of other patents.

New York Times reporter Brian X. Chen tweeted that Christie’s retirement was announced within the company “weeks ago”.

Was just told Apple VP Greg Christie's retirement was announced weeks ago. I don't know anything about Ive politics.

— Brian X. Chen (@bxchen) April 9, 2014

Apple’s statement doesn’t directly address the rumor that Greg Christie and Jony Ive had clashed over design direction, nor does the company specify his current role.