Liquid Glass design executive Alan Dye is leaving Apple

Apple‘s head of user interface design, Alan Dye, will join Meta, in a notable shift of executive talent in Silicon Valley.

The iPhone maker confirmed Dye’s departure on Wednesday and Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement that the company prioritizes design and has a strong team. The statement said that veteran designer Stephen Lemay will succeed Dye.

“Steve Lemay has played a key role in the design of every major Apple interface since 1999,” Cook said in a statement.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a Wednesday social media post said that Dye would lead up a new creative studio that brings together design, fashion and technology.

“We plan to elevate design within Meta,” wrote Zuckerberg, who did not say what specific products Dye will work on.

Compared to other Silicon Valley companies, Apple has always emphasized design to customers and investors as one of its strengths. Apple prominently features its design executives to discuss interface changes at the company’s launch events.

In June, Dye revealed a redesign of Apple’s software interface for iPhones, Macs and the Apple Watch called Liquid Glass. The company described it as an “elegant” new design with translucent buttons, updated app icons and fluid animations.

Dye said it was the “next chapter” of the company’s software and said it “sets the stage” for the next era of Apple products.

“Our new design blurs the lines between hardware and software to create an experience that’s more delightful than ever while still familiar and easy to use,” Dye said at the launch.

Reviews were mixed on the Liquid Glass update, which shipped with new iPhones in September.

For years, Apple design was embodied by executive Jony Ive, who left Apple in 2019 and is now working with OpenAI on artificial intelligence hardware alongside Sam Altman.

Dye took over user interface design and became one of the design studio’s leads in 2015 when Ive stepped back from a day-to-day role. Dye started at Apple in 2006 and worked on software for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV and Vision Pro, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He was also partly responsible for the first iPhone in 2017 that did away with the home screen button at the bottom of the device and replaced it with a software-based swipe-up motion.

Meta has said in recent years that it wants to be a major developer of hardware and Zuckerberg has said Apple is one of his company’s biggest competitors.

The social media company currently makes several virtual reality headsets under its Quest brand, and recently scored its first hardware hit with Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, which are stylish sunglasses equipped with cameras and the ability to run an AI model that can answer questions. Sales of the device tripled over the past year, Ray-Ban parent company EssilorLuxottica said in July.

“We’re entering a new era where AI glasses and other devices will change how we connect with technology and each other,” Zuckerberg wrote.

Bloomberg first reported the move.

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