{"id":798945,"date":"2026-08-02T08:17:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T08:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/798945\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T08:17:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T08:17:19","slug":"im-not-convinced-the-20th-anniversary-iphone-will-be-what-we-think-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/798945\/","title":{"rendered":"I&#8217;m not convinced the 20th anniversary iPhone will be what we think, here&#8217;s why"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t<img width=\"1600\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/iPhone-20th-anniversary-mockup-ios26-03.jpg\" class=\"skip-lazy wp-post-image\" alt=\"Largest ever iPhone screen arriving next year, suggests leaker | iPhone 20 concept render shown\"  decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Next year, the <a href=\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/2026\/06\/16\/apple-releasing-20th-anniversary-iphone-airpods-with-cameras-next-year-report\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">iPhone will be turning 20<\/a> \u2013 and Apple is heavily rumored to be working on a radical new design to celebrate. Many have expected this to come in the form of iPhone 19 Pro (more likely to be called iPhone 20 to align with the anniversary), but I think there\u2019s one solid reason that it may not be delivered in that form.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 20th anniversary iPhone is rumored to reach Jony Ive\u2019s initial vision of a single slab of glass. Display up to the very edges \u2013 curving over the sides, and an all glass design. It\u2019s rumored to come in with a <a href=\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/2026\/07\/21\/largest-ever-iphone-screen-arriving-next-year-suggests-leaker\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">7-inch display<\/a>, slightly larger than iPhone 17 Pro Max, likely because of the bezel elimination. It might also bring <a href=\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/2026\/05\/05\/leaker-suggests-seven-new-features-coming-to-iphone-20-but-read-with-care\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">under display Face ID<\/a> and camera technology to the iPhone for the first time, resulting in no Dynamic Island pill.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It sounds like an incredible phone. That said, I\u2019m not fully convinced that it\u2019ll end up being a successor to the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro like many are suggesting.<\/p>\n<p>The iPhone 17 Pro shift<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Simply put, iPhone 17 Pro went really hard <a href=\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/2025\/09\/13\/iphone-17-pro-apples-first-truly-pro-iphone-model-heres-why\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">on being utilitarian<\/a>. All aluminum design to maximize thermal performance, and a thicker chassis alongside it. It marked the <a href=\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/2025\/09\/13\/iphone-17-pro-apples-first-truly-pro-iphone-model-heres-why\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">move away<\/a> from Pro iPhones looking flashy and being the premium choice. Alongside it, we got iPhone Air \u2013 a radically thin and premium built iPhone, still focusing on an all glass and titanium design.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Given that shift, I find it unlikely that Apple would go back to making Pro iPhones primarily out of glass, given the thermal compromises. In the current iPhone lineup, Air represents premium while Pro represents <a href=\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/2025\/09\/17\/iphone-17-pro-review\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">uncompromising<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/iphone-air-17-pro.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1029038\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Apple will be debuting an <a href=\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/2026\/07\/31\/iphone-air-2-to-feature-smaller-dynamic-island-more-report\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">iPhone Air 2 in early 2027<\/a> with a second camera. Afterwards, it\u2019s unclear what\u2019s in the pipeline for iPhone Air.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I could be totally wrong on this, but it seems more likely that the fall 2027-spring 2028 iPhone lineup would look like this \u2013 with the 20th anniversary iPhone instead replacing iPhone Air:<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A launch like this would be more akin to what Apple did in 2017. With that lineup, iPhone 8 and 8 Plus were still new phones, but iPhone X sat at the top of the lineup for those who wanted the flashy new device.<\/p>\n<p>Wrap up<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For what it\u2019s worth, the rumors aren\u2019t on my side for this one \u2013 and it\u2019s still widely expected that the 20th anniversary iPhones will be in replacement of the iPhone Pro. That said, we\u2019re still over a year away from this debut, and things can still change.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If it truly does end up replacing the Pro iPhones, then maybe Apple will end up keeping the 18 Pros around for an additional generation. I\u2019m not quite sure I can see Apple abandoning this pro-first design so early.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of course, the iPhone 20 is still over a year away \u2013 so it\u2019s possible the rumors are shaping the phone up to be a <a href=\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/2026\/07\/14\/how-the-20th-anniversary-iphone-will-provide-a-single-slab-of-glass-look\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">bit more radical <\/a>than it actually will be. If things tone down a bit, then maybe iPhone 20 replacing both Pro iPhones would still make sense.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What do you think about the 20th anniversary iPhone rumors? Do you think it makes sense to replace the current iPhone Pro design? Sound off in the comments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My favorite Apple accessory recommendations:<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Follow Michael:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/mbrkhrdt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">X\/Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/michaelb.nyc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/michaelb.nyc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/9to5mac.com\" aria-label=\"Add 9to5Mac as a preferred source on Google\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"google-preferred-source-badge-dark\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/google-preferred-source-badge-dark.png\" alt=\"Add 9to5Mac as a preferred source on Google\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"google-preferred-source-badge-light\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/google-preferred-source-badge-light.png\" alt=\"Add 9to5Mac as a preferred source on Google\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"disclaimer-affiliate\">FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. <a href=\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/about\/#affiliate\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">More.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Next year, the iPhone will be turning 20 \u2013 and Apple is heavily rumored to be working on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[74],"class_list":["post-798945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}