iOS designer Greg Christie retiring from Apple

One of the pioneers behind the iPhone, software engineer Greg Christie, is leaving Apple, a spokesman said Wednesday.

"Greg has been planning to retire later this year after nearly 20 years at Apple," an official said in an email, saying he had made vital contributions to Apple.

Christie was part of the team that developed the iOS software for the first iPhone, which came out in 2007.

Christie was until now leading a team working on a so-called human interface team developing more software for Apple.

His role will be taken over by the current vice president for design, Jonathan Ive.

Ive in recent years has been working on Apple products' external look.

But industry publications say he has played a major role in developing the latest version of the iPhone operating system iOS 7.

iOS 7 was released by Apple on 18 September. The biggest changes were in the system's design: instead of app icons that try to mimic real-world counterparts, Apple is favouring simplicity and consistency from app to app. The new iPhone 5c phones were designed to complement the colour scheme found in the new operating system.

Apple released iOS 7.1 in March, with bringing support for CarPlay, improvements for Touch ID performance in the iPhone 5s, improved performance for iPhone 4, and a bunch of other fixes and enhancements. These included changes to iTunes Radio, Calendar, Accessibility options, Camera settings, wider iCloud Keychain support, FaceTime call notifications fix, home screen crash fix, and other user interface refinements.

Written with inputs from AFP