Jony Ive promoted to chief design officer at Apple

British designer will delegate day-to-day management, leading to speculation that he wants to return to live in the UK

Apple has promoted Sir Jonathan Ive, the British designer responsible for most of the company's biggest hits in recent years, to the position of chief design officer at the company.

Jony Ive, whose previous title was vice president of design, will continue to be responsible for all of Apple's design work, "focusing entirely on current design projects, new ideas and future initiatives", according to Apple chief executive Tim Cook. But Ive's day-to-day managerial responsibilities will be delegated to the new vice presidents of industrial design and user interface design, Richard Howarth and Alan Dye.