Apple Design Chief Jony Ive Says He Detests ‘Most Things’

Apple design chief Jony Ive doesn’t pull any punches. At least, he didn’t when he sat down with The New Yorker editor David Remnick on Friday.

Ive spoke to Remnick at the publication’s The New Yorker TechFest event in Manhattan earlier today, hot on the heels of Apple’s announcement of its 10th anniversary iPhone — a device Ive says was 5 years in the making.

Among other topics, the Apple designer also expanded on everything from his relationship with late Apple founder Steve Jobs to his ability to tell if a product is badly designed, 9to5Mac reported.

On the last point, Ive was especially sharp. Spoiler: Ive thinks many of today’s products are badly designed, particularly among his company’s competitors. When Remnick asked what Ive detests, he responded with “most things really.” He also called the design of mobile phones prior to the iPhone “soul destroying” and poorly produced.

He added that badly designed products had plagued him since a young age, and that consumers just know — or feel — if a product is carefully and specifically designed. Even if they can’t quite express or articulate it.

Ive, originally from London, has been a cornerstone at Apple since the early 90s. And along with Steve Jobs, Ive is well-known as one of the key drivers of Apple’s extremely specific and unique design philosophy. But despite his influence, many casual Apple users will best know Ive as the narrator of many of the company’s new product videos.

Interestingly, while the chief designer puts tremendous care and attention to detail into each one of Apple’s products, he says consumers shouldn’t obsess over them. Ive added that “constant use” of popular devices like the iPhone basically constitutes “misuse” of the product.

It’s also worth noting that the design chief joined Apple at a period when the Cupertino-based giant wasn’t headed by Jobs. During that time, Apple was “losing fabulously large sums of money every quarter,” Ive said. “It broke my heart to watch it drift into irrelevance.” But even when Jobs returned to the company, he never made making money Apple’s primary goal.

Although the Apple co-founder was a notoriously harsh critic, Ive said he “had the most wonderful teacher” in Steve Jobs, who helped him hone his focus. “I have never met anybody with his focus,” Ive added. “Steve would say, ‘Jony, you have to understand there are measures of focus and one of them is how often you say no.’”

At one point, Remnick asked Ive if he feels as “hungry” now as he did during Apple’s troubled period — a relevant question, as Apple is now the most valuable publicly traded corporation in the world. Ive said he does, and explained that Apple has many ideas for the future — and is just waiting for current technology to catch up.