The recent analyst report claiming that Apple’s all-glass iPhone, which would celebrate its 20th anniversary next year, has been canceled has sparked further reactions. BloombergMark Gurman of has already responded by claiming that the “glass-centric” redesign is still on track for 2027, and now a major Chinese leaker claims that the commemorative device does indeed remain in active development.
Digital Chat Station, a Weibo-based leaker, identifies the device as having two sizes in equivalent Pro/Pro Max variants, citing the internal codenames V73/V74 previously referenced by Gurman. Based on supply chain information, the leaker claims that both new displays have increased in physical size while maintaining the same aspect ratio. Their rationale is that Apple’s four-curved edge borderless design uses a flat 2D display combined with a glass cover and takes advantage of optical refraction and the shape of the glass to create the visual effect of a borderless screen.
The description lines up with Gurman’s claim that glass is used on the front and back of the phones, with the material curved around the sides, leaving only a small metal strip in the middle.
Digital Chat Station’s latest article also echoes an earlier claim of theirs that Apple is testing a slightly larger 6.96-inch screen for the Pro Max variant of the device, suggesting that the OLED panel itself is slightly larger, but the extra area curves the screen more into the edges of the device while the chassis remains essentially the same size as the current iPhone 17 Pro Max.
Jefferies analyst Edison Lee caused a stir Monday by claiming that Apple’s all-glass iPhone, meant to mark the device’s 20th anniversary, had been canceled. Gurman quickly refuted this claim based on his own information, although he said Apple had also considered a “more ambitious version” that “used even more glass” – but this was abandoned early on. It is quite possible that this more ambitious version is the device to which Lee was referring in his report.
Regardless, today’s post from Digital Chat Station further adds weight to the possibility that Lee is out of the picture and that the radically redesigned 20th anniversary iPhone is still in the works and expected to arrive in fall 2027.
