Veteran member of Jony Ive’s industrial design team departs Apple

21-year Apple design team veteran Christopher Stringer is leaving the company, according to a new report from The Information. The departure of Stringer comes almost exactly a year after Apple lost another veteran designer to GoPro.

Stringer is a member of Jony Ive’s industrial design team and has had a hand in designing a variety of Apple’s hardware products, including the iPhone. While Ive’s design team is usually draped in secrecy, we know a little bit more about Stringer because of his role in Apple’s never-ending legal battle with Samsung. Stringer played a major role in the case, testifying back in 2012.

Long time Apple industrial designer Christopher Stringer is leaving the company in another shakeup to Apple’s vaunted design team.

Apple’s design team has gone through multiple changes in the last two years as Jonathan Ive has stepped back from running the team. Richard Howarth now leads the team on a day-to-day basis.

Other than the Samsung case, however, Stringer has kept a very low profile, like Ive’s entire team. He’s worked alongside Ive for 21 years, working on the iPhone, iPad, and various Macs throughout the years. It’s unclear as to what his plans are post-Apple.

Last April, longtime designer Daniel Coster left Apple to join the team at GoPro as the company’s VP of design.

Apple has long prided itself on the tight-knit design team led by Jony Ive, but over recent years some have questioned the inner workings of the team.

In 2015, the man in charge of Apple’s design studio departed the company. At the same time, Jony Ive himself took a different role. Ive shifted to become Apple’s Chief Design Officer, handing off most of his managerial duties. Tim Cook, however, has defended the team and Jony Ive’s role:

Jony, who I think has the best taste of anyone in the world and the best design skills, now has responsibility for the human interface. I mean, look at our products. So it’s saying, Jony has done a remarkable job leading our hardware design, so let’s also have Jony responsible for the software and the look and feel of the software.