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Apple CEO Tim Cook is about to take over one of the most significant parts of Apple\u2019s business: its design team. The team currently reports to COO Jeff Williams, but once Williams begins his just-announced retirement \u201clate in the year,\u201d the design team \u201cwill then transition to reporting directly to Cook,\u201d Apple says<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The company is currently in the midst of a huge software design transition with its new \u201cuniversal\u201d Liquid Glass design language<\/a>, which will roll out across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and other devices later this year. It uses real-time rendering to show things like content scrolling under glassy buttons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Liquid Glass \u201ccombines the optical qualities of glass with a fluidity only Apple can achieve, as it transforms depending on your content or context,\u201d according to<\/a> Alan Dye, Apple\u2019s VP of Human Interface Design. \u201cIt lays the foundation for new experiences in the future and, ultimately, it makes even the simplest of interactions more fun and magical.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Apple calls Liquid Glass its \u201cbroadest software design update ever,\u201d taking inspiration from the Vision Pro\u2019s AR interfaces with heavy doses of transparency and glass shine effects everywhere. But recent beta releases have slightly toned down the glass effect with more frost<\/a> applied for readability.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Mark Gurman has reported for Bloomberg<\/em><\/a> that the glass concept will also extend to its hardware, like the \u201cGlasswing\u201d 20th anniversary iPhone in 2027 that\u2019s rumored to have slim bezels, curved glass sides all around, and no cutout section in the screen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When former chief design officer Jony Ive left Apple, the company announced that<\/a> Dye and Evans Hankey, who headed up hardware, would report to Williams. Hankey eventually left Apple<\/a> and is now working on OpenAI\u2019s design team following its acquisition of Ive\u2019s hardware company<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n