It was stale when Ive was there.. Normally esthetics should follow function. Not the other way around. I'm glad Ive's gone. Apple is finally making great stuff again.
I think it got stale when Ive didn't have Jobs as a counterpart. Or vice versa. Once Cook & Ive didn't seem to have the same relationship, things stopped working. But I agree that Apple is doing quite well again with the M1-era Macs.
Yeah he def. needs the counterpart. Design needs constraints ;-)