Apple's design chief Jony Ive offers up a few new insights into Apple's secrets and explained why he takes it personally when other companies are given a pass on designs that look similar to Apple's.

"It's theft," Ive told London's The Sunday Times. "What's copied isn't just a design, it's thousands and thousands of hours of struggle. It's only when you've achieved what you set out to do that you can say, 'This was worth pursuing.' It takes years of investment, years of pain."

Ive said, " Our success is a victory for purity, integrity — for giving a damn Our success is a victory for purity, integrity — for giving a damn... At Apple, there's almost a joy in looking at your ignorance and realizing, 'Wow, we're going to learn about this and, by the time we're done, we're going to really understand and do something great.'

"Apple is imperfect, like every large collection of people. But we have a rare quality. There is this almost pre-verbal, instinctive understanding about what we do, why we do it."

Ive didn't go any deeper on the company's upcoming products. What about the iWatch?

"Obviously, there are rumors about us working on … and, obviously, I'm not going to talk about that," said Ive. "It's a game of chess, isn't it?"