Apple design guru Jony Ive purportedly wanted to combine the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro into one product line

Former Apple design chief Jony Ive wanted to converge the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro into one product line, according to veteran journalist Walt Mossberg in an interview with the Vergecast.

“He decided he could do the Pro and make it as light and as thin or thinner than the MacBook Air,” he said. “And it would be a higher price machine, so that would be better for their bottom line and people would buy it even if they didn’t need the extra power it gave.

Mossberg continues that while then CEO Steve Jobs wanted two laptops covering consumer and Pro users, Ive wanted just one. This way of thinking started “a big war between the design team and its acolytes” led by Ive, and the “engineering and product manager side of the company.”

Mossberg concludes the anecdote by saying “the product guys and the engineers managed to yank it back. And they brought out a new MacBook Air with very minimal changes, but it was a new model.”

As I’ve opined on numerous occasions, I think Apple’s product line has gotten way too confusing (particularly the iPad and Mac desktop line-ups). However, I think Jobs was right in that Mac laptops need to be available in two (and only two) categories: consumer and pro.

Apple and its former head of design parted ways in July 2022, ending a three-decade run. Ive joined Apple in September 1992. After several years of designing the interface aspects of Apple products he was promoted to senior vice president of Industrial Design in the late 1990s. Ive helped design the iMac, iPad, MacBook, and other products.

He also helped design Apple’s major architectural projects, such as Apple Park and Apple Stores.Apple announced in October 2012 that Ive would “provide leadership and direction for Human Interface (HI) across the company in addition to his role as the leader of Industrial Design.