Apple could be preparing one of the most dramatic iPhone redesigns in its history, with a 20th anniversary model that appears to eliminate screen bezels entirely.
It seems Apple users won’t need to go with the upcoming folding iPhone to get an iOS handset with an innovative design.
20th anniversary iPhone might make bezels disappear
The original iPhone debuted in 2007, and with a big anniversary coming up, Apple apparently plans to use this as an opportunity to introduce significant changes to the design of its flagship smartphone.
The leaker known as Ice Universe posted to X on Monday that “Apple may define its next generation display as ‘Liquid Glass Display.'”
The 2027 iPhone will seemingly lack the screen bezels — the black lines around the display — that show up on current models. The goal is a fully immersive, all-screen experience.
However, according to the post, Apple is unlikely to adopt the kind of aggressively curved “waterfall” displays seen on older Android phones.
“It is not a traditional quad curved display, nor is it anything like the curved screen solutions we have seen on Android phones over the years,” wrote Ice Universe. “The curvature itself could be extremely subtle. What truly creates the visual impact may be a sophisticated combination of optical refraction, light guiding structures, and carefully engineered visual illusion.”
Apple envisions “a display where the bezel nearly disappears from sight, while edge viewing remains natural and undisturbed,” wrote the tipster. “It flows like liquid, yet stays as pure and transparent as glass.”
Not like Android phones’ curved glass screens
Apple likely won’t use a traditional curved glass screen as seen on some Android phones. While those devices look striking in marketing photos, that type of screen caused enough real-world problems that most manufacturers quietly backed away from using it. The curved glass distorts on-screen images. Plus, those types of screens are fragile, and cases don’t easily fit on phones with curved screens.
Apple’s goal is apparently to create the illusion of a bezel-less design for the 20th anniversary iPhone without the hassles. If successful, the result would be a device that feels like pure glass in the hand — less a phone with a screen, and more a screen that happens to be a phone.
To be clear, earlier rumors indicated the 2oth anniversary iPhone would lack bezels. But the new report from Ice Universe goes into more detail than any previous one.
Another major change in the 2027 iPhone
The 20th anniversary iPhone might break new ground for Apple in other ways, too. Most notably, the company will supposedly place the device’s front-facing camera under the display.
The iPhone X brought Apple’s first screen cutout in 2017, and the 20th anniversary model might mark the end of it. The 2027 model reportedly won’t need a Dynamic Island.
With the device not expected for more than a year, there’s plenty of time for speculation on whether it’ll be called iPhone 19, iPhone 20 or iPhone XX.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 25 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh SE/30 (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer.
That’s because he’s a “tablet first” type of guy. Rather than use a Macbook, he connects a keyboard case to the iPad. And instead of a desktop Mac, he connects his tablet to a 27-inch display and full-size keyboard. (So don’t try to tell him that everyone has to use a Mac to be productive.)
Before coming to Cult of Mac, Ed wrote for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
