Apple’s plan for a glass-wrapped iPhone marking the device’s 20th anniversary is still on the roadmap for 2027, according to reporting Tuesday that contradicts an analyst note claiming the design had been killed off — a note that had already knocked roughly 3% off Apple shares.
The company expects to launch iPhone Pro models next year using a new glassy look, with glass on the front and back curving into the sides of the devices and a metal band running through the middle, according to people familiar with the work. The phones are known internally as V73 and V74.
What actually got cancelled
The confusion is worth untangling, because both accounts contain a piece of the truth. Apple did scrap a design — just not the one shipping. The original concept was to be almost entirely glass, but the company hit problems joining the glass panels together once it had to work out how to produce them in large volumes. That more ambitious version was dropped early in the development cycle. What survived is the metal-band design, still curved on all four sides.
Jefferies analyst Edison Lee had claimed the device was cancelled because of low manufacturing yields, and that Apple would eventually move the all-glass design into its Pro and Pro Max models instead. Lee downgraded Apple stock over the claim. The distinction between “the most aggressive prototype was abandoned in early development” and “the anniversary phone is cancelled” is the difference between a routine engineering decision and an investment thesis.
Why the timing is credible
Apple’s product calendar makes the claim checkable. New iPhone designs are typically settled about a year before the fall launch, which puts the 2027 plans in advanced testing and largely locked down, barring unforeseen problems. A design that had genuinely been cancelled at this stage would show up in the supply chain as cancelled tooling orders, not as a disputed analyst note.
Apple is expected to introduce the iPhone 18 Pro series and the iPhone Fold at its September event this year, with the iPhone 19 Pro line, a second-generation Fold and the anniversary model due in September 2027.
What it means for the supply chain
Curved glass on all four sides is a manufacturing problem before it is a design statement. Bending cover glass around edges without introducing stress fractures, then bonding two curved panels to a thin metal frame at scale, is precisely the kind of process where yields determine whether a product ships on time or slips a year. Yields also determine cost, and cost determines whether the design stays confined to Pro models or migrates down the lineup.
That work is distributed across a supplier base that will be building capacity through next year — specialty glass makers, precision metal fabricators, and the assemblers who have to hold tolerances on a curved surface rather than a flat one. Suppliers commit tooling capital roughly on the same one-year horizon Apple uses to lock designs, which is why an analyst report suggesting cancellation moves more than just Apple’s own share price.
The stakes for Apple
The iPhone still generates roughly half of Apple’s revenue, and sales rose 22% last quarter. A redesign is the single most reliable driver of an upgrade cycle in that business: consumers who skip incremental annual updates tend to replace their phones when the device looks visibly different.
The launch also lands early in the tenure of incoming chief executive John Ternus, who takes over on September 1. A hardware chief stepping into the top job with a landmark redesign scheduled for his second year has an obvious interest in the project shipping as promised.
What to watch
Apple has confirmed nothing. Everything known about the 2027 phone comes from people describing confidential work, and product plans at this stage can still change. The signal to watch is not further leaks about the design but component orders in the first half of next year — glass and frame tooling commitments are harder to disguise than a roadmap.
JBizNews Desk | New York
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