Jony Ive's role at Apple is changing again. When Scott Forstall was pushed aside in 2012, Ive was promoted to oversee both hardware and software design at the company. Now he's being promoted again, according to a profile by Stephen Fry in The Telegraph. As Apple's Chief Design Officer, Ive will still oversee hardware and software design, but he'll hand off day-to-day management to Richard Howarth and Alan Dye, respectively.

9to5Mac also has an internal memo from CEO Tim Cook:

Design is one of the most important ways we communicate with our customers, and our reputation for world-class design differentiates Apple from every other company in the world. As Chief Design Officer, Jony will remain responsible for all of our design, focusing entirely on current design projects, new ideas, and future initiatives. On July 1, he will hand off his day-to-day managerial responsibilities of ID and UI to Richard Howarth, our new vice president of Industrial Design, and Alan Dye, our new vice president of User Interface Design. Richard, Alan, and Jony have been working together as colleagues and friends for many years. Richard has been a member of the Design team for two decades, and in that time he has been a key contributor to the design of each generation of iPhone, Mac, and practically every other Apple product. Alan started at Apple nine years ago on the Marcom team, and helped Jony build the UI team which collaborated with ID, Software Engineering and countless other groups on groundbreaking projects like iOS 7, iOS 8 and Apple Watch.

It's not clear what Ive's new role means for his future at Apple—he will apparently be able to "travel more," both to oversee the design of Apple's retail stores and (as others believe) to spend more time in his native UK to raise his kids—but this move has evidently been in the works for some time. Apple "introduced" Howarth and Dye to the public by way of Jony Ive- and design-focused profiles in the New Yorker and Wired, respectively, and Apple's PR machine does nothing by accident.

For now, don't expect much about Apple's design or public presentations to change. The teams that brought you the Apple Watch, the MacBook, and the flat look of iOS 7 and OS X Yosemite are still in place. Ive has never really been a fixture of Apple's keynotes or product events, aside from his much-imitated product video narration. But going forward, pay attention to how frequently interviews with Ive, Howarth, and Dye pop up. If Apple intends to pass Ive's design torch to others, it's going to be a months- or years-long transition, and Apple will want its employees and shareholders to be comfortable with whoever replaces him. Apple pursued a similar strategy when Tim Cook took over for Steve Jobs—Cook already had a couple of stints as interim CEO under his belt when Jobs officially passed the reins in August of 2011.