If Apple Made a Turntable, This Might Be What It Looked Like

Linn teamed up with Jony Ive’s design firm, LoveFrom, to release a special edition of its iconic Sondek LP12 turntable.

Published July 7, 2023

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Updated November 28, 2023

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Apple makes a lot of different types of technology, but the brand doesn’t make turntables. But if it did — or more specifically, if it had during the time when Jony Ive, Apple’s famed chief design officer who left the company in 2019 after 22 years, was in charge — what you see right here just might be what it would’ve looked like.

Linn Sondek LP12-50
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The Linn Sondek LP12-50 is a special edition turntable designed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Scottish hi-fi company releasing its iconic Sondek LP12 turntable back in 1973. But maybe the most interesting things about it is that it’s a collaboration effort between Linn and LoveFrom, the design firm that Jony Ive founded post-Apple.

Jony Ive and LoveFrom have worked on a number projects in recent years, but none of it has really been hardware-related; they developed a seal for Terra Carta, a logo for a King Charles space initiative, and a red clown nose. So technically, the Linn Sondek LP12-50 is actually the first piece of hardware the Ive has worked on since leaving Apple.

Ive is responsible for designed some of the most iconic Apple gadgets of all time — including the iPod, iPhone, iMac, iPad and MacBook Air — and his ethos when it comes to industrial design has always been functional minimalism. But as far as what Ive and LoveFrom brought to the Sondek LP12-50, don’t expect anything drastic.

In an interview with Fast Company, Ive says that they made “small improvements and gentle evolutions [to] the [original] design.” Specifically, the Sondek LP12-50 has a new circular power button that’s made out of aluminum (instead of a more traditional plastic rocker switch). There are new metal hinges (instead of plastic) for the dust cover. Some of the edges have been curved and smoothed off. And there’s a new lid badge. That’s it.

According to Linn’s press release, Ive reached out to them in 2022 — via a LinkedIn request, no less — because he was so much of a fan of the brand. In fact, according to the Fast Company article, the work was done by LoveFrom on a pro bono basis.

If you’re interested in one of these limited edition turntables, Linn is selling the Sondek LP12-50 for a cool $60,000. Only 250 are going to be made, and they’ll be on sale starting this August.