Apple hires renowned designer Marc Newson

Apple Inc. has hired designer Marc Newson to join his friend Jony Ive. Ive is known for working closely with late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs to design many of Apple’s hardware products.

Marc Newson, who has previously worked with Ive on a number of designs for the fruity firm, will be based in Blighty and regularly jet out to California, Vanity Fair reported.

"Marc is without question one of the most influential designers of this generation," Jonathan Ive, Apple's senior vice president of design, told Vanity Fair magazine's website.

"He is extraordinarily talented. We are particularly excited to formalize our collaboration as we enjoy working together so much and have found our partnership so effective."

Newson then chimed in with his own version of what the bromance with Ive means to him.

"I’m full of admiration and respect for the extraordinary design work that has been produced by Jony and the team at Apple," he said.

"My close friendship with Jony has not only given me a unique insight into that process, but the opportunity to work together with him and the people that have been responsible. I am enormously proud to join them."

The US technology giant's snapping up of Newson comes on the heels of other recent hires including Angela Ahrendts, the long-serving former chief executive of Burberry.

As part of its $3 billion deal for Beats, the high-end audio equipment and streaming music service, it also brought on board the the talent of Beats brains Dr. Dre, a rap musician, and producer Jimmy Iovine.