Former Apple design chief Jony Ive is famous for prioritizing sleek aesthetics above almost everything else, and there is a broad consensus that sometimes this approach goes a bit too far.

However, his vision of seeing the iPhone's future as a single glass slab has transcended his tenure, and a new article seems to offer a compelling view of what we can expect from next year's 20th Anniversary iPhone...

The phrase 'single glass slab' depicts a vision of the goal the company is trying to achieve, not the reality. Even if there is a screen that partially wraps around the device's sides, there will always be some kind of frame. There will always need to be cameras, speakers, microphones, and sensors. Some of these may eventually be embedded under the screen, but there will always be metal and glass.

Still, it has long been thought that Apple will do everything it can to get as close as possible to this vision with the 20th anniversary iPhone in 2027.

The leaker Ice Universe believes he has provided the most realistic idea of what we can expect from this model.

This is not a traditional quad-curved display, nor does it resemble the curved screen solutions we have seen in Android phones over the years. The curvature itself may be extremely subtle.

What truly creates the visual impact could be a sophisticated combination of optical refraction, light directing structures, and carefully engineered visual illusion. The end result could be a display where the frame is almost invisible, and edge viewing remains natural and undisturbed.

In other words, Apple will do everything it can to make the frames as unobtrusive as possible, but it will significantly rely on creating a more impressive perception than the engineering reality.

The article claims that Apple could brand this as the “Liquid Glass Display” and includes a visual representing the expected look.

Apple may define its next-generation display as "Liquid Glass Display".
This is not a traditional quad-curved display, nor does it resemble the curved screen solutions we have seen in Android phones over the years. The curvature itself may be extremely subtle. Really… pic.twitter.com/onj81yNWQf

— Ice Universe (@UniverseIce) April 27, 2026

In my opinion, this seems to describe a realistic perspective of something that will be impressive enough to justify the 20th Anniversary iPhone branding, and it will be practical to produce using current manufacturing techniques.

Relying on smart design that transcends visual perception beyond physical design is something we have seen since the first Apple Watch. The combination of the screen's black background with the bright glass frame creates the illusion of having much less frame than it actually does.

Macworld magazine notes that the article seems quite speculative but makes sense to me.

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