Huawei has hired Apple’s former creative director to lead its UI design efforts.
The company has made Abigail Sarah Brody its new chief designer of user experience, and will lead a team of 80 UI designers. Huawei is also opening a UX research and development design studio in Silicon Valley.
As i4u points out, Brody worked for Apple for ten years up until 2011, and was a member of the design team that created the very first iteration of iOS for the first iPhone.
Huawei’s latest hire signifies the company’s ambitions in the smartphone market. Unlike many of its established rivals, the Chinese manufacturer is experiencing massive growth in the area.
Recently confirmed (by some sources at least) as the world’s third biggest smartphone manufacturer behind Apple and Samsung, Huawei clearly intends to take on its high-end rivals at their own game. If that wasn’t obvious enough from the classy Nexus 6P, then this latest key hire should put any doubts to rest.
Related: Huawei P9 release date
It seems to be a wise move on Huawei’s part, too. The company launched its latest flagship phone, the Huawei Mate S, earlier in the year. While we found it to be a very well put together phone, its EMUI skin (pictured below) continues to be a major drawback.
EMUI is well known for taking Android and applying a heavily iOS-influenced home screen experience. However, Huawei has never quite got the formula right, creating a somewhat cheap and clunky facsimile of Apple’s work.
What better way to address this flaw than to hire one of the people behind the original iOS design?
Next, take a look at our smartphone buyers guide video:
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
