Key takeaways
- Design: The iPhone 20 could be made entirely of glass. It might not have any buttons at all.
- Display: Apple could tap Samsung Display for an equal-depth quad-curved panel design.
- Cameras: There are conflicting reports about the selfie camera being located under the screen.
- Release date: It is expected to be released in September 2027, but we don’t have a specific launch date yet.
- Price: As of now, there haven’t been any whispers about the iPhone 20’s price. But we don’t expect it to cost less than the current models.
Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference 2026 was all about delivering on past Siri promises and building stable, privacy-led OS experiences. It didn’t make any over-the-top promises and was a good setup for the new CEO, John Ternus, taking charge on Sept. 1. He will officially begin his stint right before the expected iPhone 18 series launch, but there’s another big Apple anniversary coming up in 2027. Next year marks the 20th anniversary of the iPhone‘s debut, and it is expected to give us a drastically different iPhone. It could be Ternus’ second major iPhone announcement after the rumored iPhone Fold, which is expected to be announced later this year.
The current generation of iPhones got a new camera island, but Apple’s overall design has remained the same for a few years now — flat sides, Dynamic Island on the front and an increasing number of buttons on the sides. However, this approach could change next year.
We’re bracing ourselves for a 2017 iPhone X-like launch, which debuted a refreshed design, celebrating the iPhone’s 10th anniversary. It introduced Face ID and an all-new look with minimal bezels. That design still echoes through the current iPhone 17 line. The 20th-anniversary edition Apple iPhone (the iPhone 20) could get a similar era-defining redesign. It’ll have an “extraordinarily complex” design, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, a noted Apple analyst.
iPhone 20 or iPhone XX?
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Apple’s 20th anniversary iPhone will get a huge redesign
The iPhone 20 is likely to be more powerful and longer-lasting than the current-generation iPhone 17 Pro Max.
On the front, the 20th-anniversary iPhone will have a brighter and thinner OLED panel, ETNews reported. Apple is tipped to adopt a Samsung OLED display with Color Filter on Encapsulation technology, which removes the polarizing film from an OLED panel and has the color filter directly on the screen’s encapsulation layer. This could result in a thinner overall display stack that reduces screen glare, increases brightness and draws less power.
Another rumor from Weibo-based leaker Digital Chat Station claims that Apple has asked Samsung Display for an equal-depth quad-curved panel design. It’s said to have “micro-curves” to keep the curvature shallow, as opposed to the curved waterfall edges of Samsung Galaxy phones of the past. This should allow the device to feel softer in the hand, with a more natural user experience when swiping from the edges.
Apple is expected to transition to smaller, faster and more efficient 2nm chips with the iPhone 18 lineup later this year. And 2027’s anniversary iPhone could get a second-generation 2nm chip for improved efficiency and powerful performance. It might be paired with Mobile High Bandwidth Memory RAM to boost signal transmission speeds.
The upcoming iPhone might also be the first Apple cellphone to embrace silicon anode batteries. According to another ETNews report from 2025, Apple is looking into using pure silicon anode battery technology for the 20th anniversary iPhone.
For context, you can find silicon anode batteries in current-generation Chinese phones like the OnePlus 15 and Oppo Find X9 Pro, among others. This technology allows phone manufacturers to pack more battery capacity in a smaller footprint, thanks to its better energy density. Apple is speculated to take advantage of this technology and have a bigger than expected cell inside its anniversary edition iPhone.
While there are reports speculating the adoption of a 200-megapixel sensor on an iPhone in 2028, we have limited information regarding the optics on 2027’s 20th anniversary edition iPhone. I would love to see a bigger sensor and improved image processing — especially in portrait mode and macro mode — on my next iPhone. However, we’ll need to wait until the iPhone 18 launch to learn more about Apple’s plans for next year.
