Apple unveils new look for iOS 7

Apple has unveiled a flatter look for the user interface of its smart device iOS operating system - the first to be overseen by its design chief Jony Ive.

He said the aim was to make the system look "cleaner" to help "elevate" users' content.

It involves a shift away from skeuomorphism - the use of leather, wood and other real-world inspired textures and artifacts in apps.

Highlighting the new look of the firm's Game Center app, Apple's senior vice-president of Software Engineering Craig Federighi joked: "We just completely ran out of green felt."

Speaking at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, in San Francisco, he also showed off a parallax effect which means icons shift against the background image as an iPhone-user tilts their handset one way and another, based on feedback from the device's accelerometer sensor.