Apple's glass iPhone 20 is still happening — with a thin metal band in the middle

Apple's 20th-anniversary iPhone, expected in fall 2027, is still getting a glass-heavy redesign — despite a Jefferies analyst claiming otherwise this week. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that work on the glass Pro model continues under internal codenames V73 and V74. The design is largely locked in, and if you were hoping for a last-minute rethink, that window has essentially closed.

What's actually being built

The iPhone 20 Pro will feature curved glass panels on the front and back that flow into the sides of the device. A thin metal band runs between them — a structural compromise Apple landed on after a more ambitious concept fell apart. That earlier prototype used even more glass in place of metal, but engineers couldn't solve the problem of joining the glass panels at mass-production scale. Cult of Mac notes that this scrapped version is likely what Jefferies analyst Edison Lee was referring to when he said the project had been cancelled.

Gurman's Bloomberg report makes the distinction clear: the original all-glass ambition is dead, but the refined glass-and-metal design is alive, in advanced testing, and unlikely to change significantly before launch.

The premium tier play

Apple's design freeze typically happens around 12 months before a September launch, which means the 2027 plans are already well past the point of major revision. The iPhone 20 Pro is being positioned as a statement piece for the brand's 20th-anniversary cycle — not an incremental refresh.

Pricing is expected to push past the $1,000 barrier Apple first crossed with the iPhone X in 2017, given the manufacturing complexity involved. No confirmed price exists yet, but the curved glass construction and supply chain challenges point firmly toward the ultra-premium end of the market. Early supply constraints at launch — similar to the iPhone X rollout — are a realistic expectation.

What this means now

For most people buying a phone in 2025 or 2026, this story is background noise. But if you're planning to hold off for a flagship iPhone, the 2027 model looks like a genuine design shift rather than a spec bump. The glass-and-metal execution is more conservative than Apple's original vision, but it's still a bigger departure from the current aluminum-and-glass formula than anything the company has shipped in years.