25 tiny design features that show Apple's incredible attention to detail

Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

• Apple's fascination with detail presents itself in subtle ways throughout the company's product line, from the Mac to the iPhone and Apple Watch.
• Here's a look at our favorite design elements that highlight the company's close attention to detail.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Thoughtful design has always been at the core of Apple's product development.

Steve Jobs was especially keen on making products that are clean, friendly, and above all, simple to use — a set of principles that has often separated Apple's products from the rest.

"It takes a lot of hard work to make something simple, to truly understand the underlying challenges and come up with elegant solutions," Jobs said according to the Smithsonian Magazine.

Apple's attention to detail is present throughout the company's product line, from the way the case for your AirPods snaps shut to subtle flourishes in the iPhone's software.

Here are our favorite design elements that highlight the company's fixation with detail.

The way your AirPods case effortlessly snaps shut:

Ever notice how the case for your AirPods snaps shut with just a subtle flick? Or how the individual buds just seem to slip into place the moment you drop the earbuds' stem into its corresponding slot?

Those details were very carefully thought-out during the design process, Jonathan Ive, Apple's famed chief design officer, said in an interview with GQ. Here's what he said to the outlet in reference to Apple's approach when developing its AirPods:

" There is color and form and the overall sort of architecture, but then those more difficult-to-define and concept behaviors, like the noise of a click and the force of a magnet that draws something closed. . . I mean, for example, one of the things that we struggled with was the way that the case orients the AirPod as you put them in. I love those details, that you've had no idea how fabulously we got that wrong, for so long, as we were designing and developing it."

A "breathing" sleep light:

Apple has a patent dating back to 2002 for a "Breathing Status LED Indicator." The patent describes a "blinking effect of the sleep-mode indicator [that] mimics the rhythm of breathing which is psychologically appealing."

A smart fan that listens:

When engaging Siri on Mac laptops, Apple automatically slows the internal fan speed to better hear your voice.

See Also:

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• Stop wearing your AirPods at the gym

SEE ALSO: Everything we know about the new AirPods Apple could release this year