There are always plenty of rumours surrounding the next iPhone, with some even appearing over a year before the model in question is due to be announced.
For this year it is the iPhone 17 series that is expected to be announced in September, with several reports claiming there will be a design change for the Pro models coming, as well as the arrival if a super slim iPhone. But the latest report we are talking about here isn’t about this year’s iPhone, or even next year’s.
It’s for the 20th anniversary iPhone model, that is set to arrive in 2027, alongside a potential folding iPhone. According to Mark Gurman’s latest Power On newsletter, picked up by Macrumors, the iPhone Pro that launches alongside the folding iPhone will feature a “bold” design that makes more extensive use of glass.
Writing in his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman says that Apple plans to launch a foldable iPhone alongside a “bold” new iPhone Pro model that makes more extensive use of glass. Could this mean Apple plans to realize former design chief Jony Ive’s dream of making an iPhone made entirely of a single plane of glass? That much isn’t known, but if Apple plans to unveil something as dramatic as the iPhone X, launched in 2017 for the iPhone’s 10th anniversary, then it will have to have something pretty special in the works.
For the iPhone X, Apple famously dropped the Home button in favor of an entirely touch-based interface system, and replaced the Touch ID fingerprint sensor with Face ID facial authentication.
As for the model number that Apple will choose to use for its 20th anniversary iPhone, it’s hard to say. Apple’s naming conventions have varied over the years. If Apple continues its annual release pattern and numerical naming, the 2027 lineup would likely be the iPhone 19 series.
However, Apple has previously adjusted its naming to commemorate significant milestones, such as skipping from iPhone 8 to iPhone X for the 10th anniversary. So it’s possible that Apple might introduce an “iPhone 20” or adopt a different naming convention to celebrate the 20th anniversary. We’ll have to wait and see.
Of course, we are a couple of years off that currently, but the idea of Apple shaking up the iPhone’s design for the 20th anniversary model isn’t unreasonable. For the iPhone’s 10th anniversary, the company introduced the iPhone X, that ditched the Touch ID home button and made the shift to Face ID with the notch at the top of the display.
It’s possible that the 2027 iPhone Pro could also make a big shift in design as the iPhone X did in 2017, but keep a more traditional design with the standard iPhone. Former design chief Jony Ive previously envisioned the iPhone as a single pane of glass, though whether that will ever become a reality remains to be seen.
With a few years until the 20th anniversary, Apple does have some time to play with for the “bold” design that Gurman suggests. The iPhone 17 series is expected to be announced towards the end of this year, while 2026 will likely see the launch of the iPhone 18 series.
If Apple sticks to the same naming strategy, the 20th anniversary model would then be the iPhone 19 series, but that could all change of course, especially as surely iPhone 20 makes more sense to mark the 20th anniversary.
