Apple’s 20th anniversary iPhone redesign is simultaneously on track and canceled, depending on which source you believe. Bloomberg reported today that the glass-centric redesign planned for 2027 remains on track, while Jefferies analyst Edison Lee downgraded Apple stock from Hold to Underperform earlier in the day, citing supply chain checks that point to the project being scrapped due to poor production yield. Apple shares fell 2.1% following the downgrade, with Jefferies cutting its price target to $263.66 from $285.56.
Lee’s checks indicate that manufacturing yield problems, the rate at which production lines produce defect-free units, have made the all-glass design unviable. Bloomberg’s reporting, presumably drawing on the same supply chain ecosystem, arrives at the opposite conclusion.
What the All-Glass Design Is Supposed to Be
The planned device will feature curved glass wrapping around all four edges, no display cutouts, and a return to a glass back, representing the most significant iPhone redesign since the iPhone X marked the device’s 10th anniversary in 2017. Both Face ID hardware and the front camera would move beneath the display, eliminating the Dynamic Island entirely. Two sizes were reportedly planned at roughly 6.3 and 6.9 inches, with a blended retail price around $2,060 and an A21 chip built on a 2-nanometer process.
From Bloomberg’s report:
The company expects to launch iPhone Pro models next year that will make use of a new glassy look, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the work is confidential. Glass is used on the front and back of the phones — known internally as V73 and V74 — and the material will curve into the sides of the devices, with a metal band in the middle.
The device’s 20th anniversary falls on June 29, 2027, with any announcement expected in September of that year. The glass aesthetic was also designed to complement Apple’s iOS 26 Liquid Glass interface, which debuted this year and was partly conceived with this hardware direction in mind.
Why the Under-Display Camera Was Always the Hard Part
Lee’s downgrade may describe only the cancellation of the all-glass front panel rather than the entire 20th anniversary redesign. DSCC’s Ross Young had already flagged that under-display Face ID and camera technology is unlikely to be fully ready for a 2027 launch, making a seamless, cutout-free front the most technically precarious element of the plan even before Lee’s note landed. A smaller hole-punch or a slimmed-down Dynamic Island was considered the more realistic near-term outcome.
Other elements of the rumored redesign, including the quad-curved chassis and thinner bezels, may still be viable. Apple had also been planning a brighter OLED display for the anniversary model, and it is unclear whether that component is affected by Lee’s cancellation claim. Jefferies could be describing only the most ambitious piece of the puzzle, leaving a significant visual redesign intact even without the all-glass front.
The Economic Case Lee Was Making
Lee’s downgrade was not purely about manufacturing. He argued that Apple had planned to use the all-glass design as a mechanism to push iPhone Pro and Pro Max average selling prices higher at a time when rising memory costs are compressing margins, and without a differentiated premium design, that pricing lever disappears. He also cited rising component costs for the 2027 iPhone Pro Max and Apple’s AI strategy as additional factors in his bearish view on the stock.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman acknowledges that the iPhone design has undergone multiple changes internally,
A more aspirational version championed by Apple’s design studio used even more glass, instead of metal, but was scrapped early on. With that approach, the company encountered problems connecting the glass panels together. The design didn’t hold up when Apple had to figure out how to produce it at large volumes, according to the people.
He has also mentioned that the roadmap remains unchanged, which clearly means that even if the design will be tweaked due to any manufacturing or material challenges Apple might face, they still intend to release a Liquid Glass inspired iPhone model in 2027.
