We're still a number of years out from the iPhone 20's likely launch. But apparently it's already being worked on at Apple, and there are big plans for its design.
In Mark Gurman's latest Power On newsletter, he claims that Apple's plans for the iPhone's 20th year in 2027 will include a foldable and a model with more glass parts.
"The company is preparing a major shake-up for the iPhone’s 20-year anniversary, including a foldable version and a bold new Pro model that makes more extensive use of glass."
Mark Gurman, Bloomberg
The last time we saw a major iPhone redesign was the iPhone X, Apple's tenth-anniversary iPhone launched in 2017. This set the stage for every flagship iPhone since with its all-screen design and Face ID notch, even if further changes have been since, such as flattened sides, larger camera blocks, and the switches from Lightning ports to USB-C and the notch to a Dynamic Island cutout.
But how Apple will take the iPhone into its third decade isn't clear from Gurman's brief comments. There have been several rumors of a foldable iPhone and foldable iPad/MacBook over the past few years, although these have been tipped to launch next year rather than 2027. Plus adding more glass seems to already be a design priority given the rumored changes to the iPhone 17 Pro, and the allegedly glass-like look of iOS 19.
Can Apple reinvent the smartphone one more time?
However Apple chooses to revise the iPhone, it's hard to imagine how it'll have as much of an impact on the whole smartphone market like the iPhone X did. But perhaps Apple's engineers have a big idea that all smartphones will eventually adopt, like we saw with big screen, gesture-only design.
It's also worth considering if we'll also get an iPhone 8 equivalent along with the iPhone 20 — a cheaper, more familiar model for users unwilling or unable to make the leap to the true next-gen model.
Assuming Apple doesn't skip a number between now and 2027, the iPhone 19 name would still be available for this purpose.
Bringing our focus back to 2025, this year's iPhone launch is believed to be the iPhone 17 series, which is tipped to add ProMotion displays to the basic models, improve the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models' telephoto cameras as well as alter their design slightly, plus debut a new slimmed-down iPhone 17 Air model in place of the Plus models seen on the past few iPhone generations.
As for iOS 19, that should appear at WWDC 2025, which starts on June 9, and show off the new design and new features such as a reworked camera app and AI abilities like health coaching.
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