I think the irony was that Jony Ive's design was best when juxtaposed.

Sleek minimal material design on the device that grants you access to a skeuomorphic, bevelled and highly-three dimensional interface (on a flat surface) is complementary.

You "feel" the leather grain thats merely visualised because the device leaves nothing else in your mind, you just have the physical touch of a premium material in your hand and nothing else to distract you from the visual.

When that's applied to everything it turns into a bland nothing.