A new report turns a key assumption about the iPhone's 20th anniversary on its head: The radical new design will reportedly not be a separate model, but integrated directly into the Pro line. This could allow Apple to celebrate the iPhone's 20th anniversary in a way that overturns many previous predictions.
For months, rumors have been swirling about the iPhone's 20th anniversary. The focus is on a completely new design: a four-sided curved display, visibly bezel-less, possibly even without any glass cutout for the front camera. Until now, many observers assumed that Apple would reserve this design for a special edition model. However, a new analyst note paints a different picture – and thus provides an important piece of the puzzle for Apple's roadmap for the coming years.
iPhone 2027: What Jeff Pu's latest report says
Analyst Jeff Pu has clarified his current assessment of the strategy behind the anniversary iPhone in a new research note. According to him, Apple plans to focus its innovation efforts for the second half of 2027 on the regular Pro models – namely the iPhone Pro and iPhone Pro Max. The radical new design with its four-sided curved display and the planned under-display front camera is intended to define this Pro line, rather than remaining exclusive to a special model.
This brings the discussion back to a key question: Will the 2027 anniversary be celebrated with a dedicated iPhone marketed as a special edition, or will the Pro design suffice to convey the anniversary moment? Pu clearly favors the latter. The reasoning is obvious: A completely redesigned Pro model attracts the most attention each year. If Apple gives it the radical anniversary design, the marketing narrative is already set.
How does this align with Gurman's earlier report?
Pu's assessment isn't as surprising as it initially sounds. Mark Gurman had already written in his original Bloomberg report that the anniversary design would be featured in a "bold new Pro model" that would use significantly more glass. Only in more recent reports did it seem as if Apple would be adding an additional, separate anniversary model to the lineup. Pu now returns the narrative to the original assumption.
Those who follow this line of reasoning arrive at a logical conclusion: What many reports have recently referred to as the "iPhone 20" or "iPhone XX" would then simply be the next generation of the Pro models – only with a design leap as radical as that of the iPhone X in 2017. This would put Apple's own brand values in the spotlight without justifying a parallel special edition.
What is technically expected
The design details that Pu confirms in his report are already known from previous leaks. The display is said to be gently curved downwards on all four edges, thus visually blending into a barely visible frame. According to reports, Apple is pursuing its own design language: The curvature is not supposed to be as aggressive as on some Android models, but deliberately subtle. We already examined this concept in detail in our Liquid Glass Display Plan for 2027.
The second major design step is the under-display front camera. Apple has been working on this technology for years, and the company apparently only wants to implement it when image quality no longer suffers under the display. Pu suggests that Apple could complete this development by 2027. Should Face ID also move under the glass at the same time, the 2027 iPhone Pro would be the first Apple smartphone without a visible notch on the front.
The mechanical design is also likely to change: Several reports indicate that Apple is planning haptic solid-state buttons that require no moving parts. This fits perfectly with the four-sided curved glass design – any additional physical cutout would undermine the design concept.
Why this step makes strategic sense
Apple's lineup has been revamped several times in recent years. The iPhone Air replaced the iPhone Plus in 2025, and the iPhone Ultra, a foldable flagship model, will be released for the first time in fall 2026. If Apple were to introduce a special anniversary edition in 2027, the product range would be difficult to navigate. Focusing the anniversary design on the Pro series brings clarity: there's the standard iPhone, the iPhone Air, the iPhone Pro with its new design, and the iPhone Ultra as a foldable premium model. We've already examined Apple's broader lineup strategy in detail.
Then there's the pricing logic. According to recent reports, Apple plans to pursue an aggressive pricing strategy for the iPhone 18 Pro this fall to secure market share. A year later, the Pro model with its radically new design would be the natural justification for a significantly higher price tag – without Apple having to introduce an additional special edition to its lineup. The Pro line thus becomes the place where Apple achieves maximum premium impact.
What remains unclear
Despite all the indications, it shouldn't be forgotten that the 2027 release is still almost 18 months away. During this time, plans can shift, technical hurdles can arise, and individual design decisions can be reversed. As early as 2026, for example, display analyst Ross Young cautioned that a fully mass-producible solution for the four-sided curved display wasn't guaranteed by 2027. Other reports point to a middle ground: a flat OLED panel with four-sided curved glass that creates the optical effect without provoking the technical problems of true four-sided curvature.
Apple itself has a proven strategy for this: design leaps are only implemented once they are technically mature. A precise assessment of how close the final 2027 model will be to the current concept descriptions will likely only be possible in the coming months. The complete overview of the anniversary model gathers all the details known so far and is continuously updated.
Apple's anniversary plan is coming into sharper focus
Should Pu's assessment prove correct, Apple would have prepared a particularly clever move with the 2027 iPhone Pro. Instead of inserting an anniversary model between the regular lines, the company would redefine the entire Pro segment with a design leap. For buyers, this would have a clear consequence: Anyone wanting the most advanced iPhone of its generation in 2027 would opt for the Pro series – a concept that consistently extends Apple's premium strategy of recent years. However, there is still time for further twists and turns before the official unveiling in autumn 2027, as the latest report corrections show. (Image: Shutterstock / BigTunaOnline)
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