Jony Ive explains design choices for new iPad Pro and 'magical' elements of the refreshed ...

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In an interview following the launch of the iPad Pro, Apple Chief Design Officer Jony Ive discussed his thinking behind the new model's refreshed appearance and features, and when he believes a product can appear magical to consumers.

Jony Ive in 2017
Jony Ive in 2017


Speaking after the introduction of Apple's iPad Pro refresh, Ive explains the new model has one of the elements he has wanted for a long time, namely the ability to orient it any way the user wants. The removal of the Touch ID-equipped Home button and the introduction of Face ID that works in both portrait and landscape freed up the design to make it usable in all directions.

"The first iPad had a very clear orientation which was portrait," Ive advised to the Independent. "It had the ability to be used in landscape, I think very well, but it was pretty clear how the product was designed. And I think with the first iPad you had the sense that it was a product made up of distinct and somewhat separate components."

The new model, Ive notes, doesn't have an orientation, with the plain appearance and speakers surrounding it confirming to users they can use it however they want.

11-inch iPad Pro (left) and 12.9-inch iPad Pro (right)
11-inch iPad Pro (left) and 12.9-inch iPad Pro (right)


The curved screen is also highlighted for being different to traditional displays that are "absolutely rectilinear" and have square corners. "What I've always found disappointing is the way that the display is a distinct and discrete component with square corners, assembled into a design that seldom has a square corner," advised Ive.

The radius of the curve for the corner of the display is "concentric with and sympathetic to" the enclosure's own corner. "You feel it's authentic," declares Ive, "and you have the sense that it's not an assembly of the whole bag of different components: it's a single, clear product."

A curved edge found on other iPad models has been changed to a straight edge because "the product had reached the point where the fabulous engineering teams have been able to make it so very thin that it meant we could have a very simple straightforward edge detail," according to Ive. "We couldn't have done that before when the products weren't as thin as this."

On being asked how he designs products that could be described as "magical" by users, Ive admits to loathing the thought of being predictable, but that it is a combination of multiple factors, including the development of new technology over multiple years.

"I think what puts a product in the place where it's described as magical is often about those attributes which are less easy to describe. You can't quite put your finger on what it is," Ive suggests.

Apple Pencil 2
Apple Pencil 2


The new Pencil design and the way it snaps to the side is offered as an example of the "magical feeling" he tried to describe. "It's unexpected, we don't quite understand how it's working, and even more incomprehensible is the fact that it's also charging. You can see how that's aligned with this idea that you can just pick the product up and use it without thought."

"Actually, you're using it with tremendous thought," Ive alludes, "but it's based on what you want to be doing rather than wondering if you're holding the tablet the right way up."

In October, Ive spoke in another interview about his work on the Apple Watch, declaring he is "truly proud" of the wearable device. For the latest model, Ive suggested there "will be a more marked tipping point in understanding and adoption" for the timepiece.

Ive has also insisted he will be with Apple for quite some time to come, expressing "the energy and vitality and sense of opportunity" at working for the iPhone producer as "extraordinary and it's very exciting."
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 38
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    Personally I've always disliked when someone uses the term "magic" or "magical" for the product  brilliant engineering. I seems to me to be discounting all of that very hard work by very talented people.
    elijahgbeowulfschmidt1983pslicedewmephilboogie
  • Reply 2 of 38
    Now with 99.9% more magic!
    berndogmobird
  • Reply 3 of 38
    19831983 Posts: 1,225member
    All this talk of ‘magical’ products is very silly! The new iPad Pro is an excellent piece of design yes, but it’s not bloody magical :smile:  
    edited November 2018 MplsPphilboogie
  • Reply 4 of 38
    IMHO, the use of term “magical” isn’t meant for us techies who know more about the inner workings rather it is for the regular customers whom I have actually heard call technical wonders, “magical.”

    So many techies on this forum whom whine about terms Apple uses to describe the product that average consumers relate with just need to get over it! Again, IMHO. :wink: 
    andrewj5790JWSCindyfxpscooter63CuJoYYClolliverMagentaPaladinwatto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 5 of 38
    AI_liasAI_lias Posts: 434member
    The edges of the new iPad is what I wished the iPhone had, since the 6 came out. If that happened, all of a sudden going without a case would be somewhat possible, since the grip is much better, doesn't slide out of pocket so easy, etc. Hopefully it'll be replicated to the iPhones. I don't understand the logic Ive is explaining for finally being able to do it, because it is "thin enough" for it, in my opinion it would work for the iPhones also, with their current thinness.
    edited November 2018 caladaniannetmagewatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 38
    rkorko Posts: 12member
    the first pencil was impressive technologically but not that great to use as evidenced by the amount of products created to improve useability.  Hope the new pencil gets the user experience right, beyond being nice to look at.  Would also like to know why the first pencil won't work at all with new tablets, seems wasteful, don't need the nice to have improvements.
    caladanianwatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 38
    magical ... magical .... maybe he talks about the magic mushrooms that have for breakfast xD 
  • Reply 8 of 38
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 3,911member
    Ditto all the 'magical' comments above! it always seems like it's Phil Schiller using the word to try and convince us something's great. Just make a great product and it will speak for itself.

    As far as the iPad goes, does anyone know if it change the speaker channels based on orientation? I kind of assume it does, simply because that's the kind of attention do detail that makes Apple products great. 
  • Reply 9 of 38
    When reading this was anyone else doing a Jony Ive impersonation in their head? No? Er... me neither!
    lolliver
  • Reply 10 of 38
    jcs2305jcs2305 Posts: 1,336member
    MplsP said:
    Ditto all the 'magical' comments above! it always seems like it's Phil Schiller using the word to try and convince us something's great. Just make a great product and it will speak for itself.

    As far as the iPad goes, does anyone know if it change the speaker channels based on orientation? I kind of assume it does, simply because that's the kind of attention do detail that makes Apple products great. 
    That was a Steve Jobs thing to call things "Magical". Seems about right since these folks ( Jony, Phil, Tim etc.. )  were close to, and worked with Steve. Not saying it isn't silly, but I can understand why they may talk this way.
    aaronsullivanwatto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 38
    aknabiaknabi Posts: 211member
    I think Ive is speaking in code words to give us in the design industry a laugh... e.g.:

    "You feel it's authentic," declares Ive, "and you have the sense that it's not an assembly of the whole bag of different components: it's a single, clear product." 
    That's not "authentic"... it's "unified", or "visually consistent" with the product language and principles.

    Also I'm sure he knows that what is described as "magical" is actually either "user delight", "property product behavioral design" or "anticipate the user"

    Anyway it's been clear that he's contributed a lot, but given his success and fortune I'm sure he'd like to enjoy life (well deserved) and also look for the next generation of designers to pass the baton to...

    Any maybe take a few jabs at Phil the Shill.
  • Reply 12 of 38
    GabyGaby Posts: 190member
    MplsP said:
    Ditto all the 'magical' comments above! it always seems like it's Phil Schiller using the word to try and convince us something's great. Just make a great product and it will speak for itself.

    As far as the iPad goes, does anyone know if it change the speaker channels based on orientation? I kind of assume it does, simply because that's the kind of attention do detail that makes Apple products great. 
    Yes, the speakers automatically change based on the orientation of the iPad. 
    CuJoYYCcaladaniannetmagewatto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 38
    when you place the pencil on the device and the charging bubble pops up.. well, that does look like magic if u ask me.. same for face iD tech.. Well done apple T cook served up a hot piece of something spicy and delicious,,, rather unexpected. Next up? 5" squarish iPhone ( with tID ) please. <- not gonna happen bro.
    andrewj5790appleismymiddlenameCuJoYYClolliverwatto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 38
    Magical, snappy, it’s the best thing Apple has ever made, so light and thin, it’s all marketing jargon. 
  • Reply 15 of 38
    JWSCJWSC Posts: 1,203member
    DAalseth said:
    Personally I've always disliked when someone uses the term "magic" or "magical" for the product  brilliant engineering. I seems to me to be discounting all of that very hard work by very talented people.

    I don’t know.  I would tend to think the opposite, that the engineering is so good and refined that the product becomes a pleasure to use.  That’s the highest compliment you can get as an engineer.

    pscooter63CuJoYYCboogerman2000appleismymiddlenamePickUrPoisonnetmagelolliverwatto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 38
    DAalseth said:
    Personally I've always disliked when someone uses the term "magic" or "magical" for the product  brilliant engineering. I seems to me to be discounting all of that very hard work by very talented people.
    1983 said:
    All this talk of ‘magical’ products is very silly! The new iPad Pro is an excellent piece of design yes, but it’s not bloody magical :smile:  
    Sir Jonathan Paul Ive KBE I would venture to say is using magic in a manner foreign to US readers.....more in keeping with it’s use in Cambridge/Oxford English as an adjective relating to superior quality of craftsmanship not seen much any more.
    as in: “That is pure magic” or “magic, that!” Or “bloody magic!” Relating to a product, play, misical event being so well done, so sublime.
    CuJoYYCseanjlolliverwatto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 38
    How do so many ppl still not get it.

    He says it feels magical because it does. Obviously if you think about it for half a second it's not "magical," but if every time you drop the apple pencil in place you're contemplating the 'unmagical' magnets then you're a way way way out there fringe outlier. For everyone else, we get a subconscious sense of 'magical.'

    Apple has been doing this for years, even bragging about it, and *still* no one gets it, particularly their competitors.
    edited November 2018 CuJoYYCStrangeDaysGeorgeBMacnetmagewelshdoglolliverGabywatto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 38
    AI_lias said:
    The edges of the new iPad is what I wished the iPhone had, since the 6 came out. If that happened, all of a sudden going without a case would be somewhat possible, since the grip is much better, doesn't slide out of pocket so easy, etc.
    I agree. I love the look of the new iPads and I’d like to see iPhone come back to the form of the 4/4s/5/5s/SE, it was always my favorite. But I never use a case (I did use a bumper on my iPhone 4 for about 2 months before deciding I didn’t like it) and also don’t drop my phone (I just upgrade to a Xs from a X). And, why would you want to make it harder to take your phone out of your pocket?
    netmagewatto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 38
    HyperealityHypereality Posts: 58unconfirmed, member
    Clarke’s third law.

    Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”
    SpamSandwichpscooter63CuJoYYCkiltedgreenGeorgeBMacseanjnetmagelolliverMagentaPaladinwatto_cobra
  • Reply 20 of 38
    1348513485 Posts: 343member
    Gaby said:
    Yes, the speakers automatically change based on the orientation of the iPad. 
    Damn. I was watching the keynote on my iPad, and I rotated the iPad...and the speaker was still Phil Schiller. 

    Am I holding it wrong?
    macpluspluswelshdoghrguy
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