Veteran industrial designer Jony Ive is leaving Apple after close to three decades at the tech giant, and chose to break the news in an interview with the Financial Times.

Ive joined Apple as a full-time employee in September 1992, and despite becoming disillusioned with the company during his first years there, was eventually convinced by a returning Steve Jobs to stay on and help shape its future. 

It proved to be an astute move for both Jobs and Ive, with the latter going on to design some of Apple's most influential and successful products, including the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad. 

The iPhone and iPad have a special place in our hearts (and history as a whole) for obvious reasons, with both having evolved over the years to become, among other things, bona fide video game platforms. 

Spurred on by the help of the App Store, the iPhone and iPad helped popularize mobile gaming, and became the home of choice for a number of influential titles including Monument Valley, Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, and Infinity Blade -- all of which made their debut on iOS devices.

Ive is departing to establish his own design company called LoveFrom, and revealed his first client will be, you guessed it, Apple. Although he'll now be working with Apple as an outsider, the fabled product designer reassured fans he'll still be "very involved" with the company for many years to come.