iPhone 20 Rumours: Apple has only just moved into the iPhone 18 generation, but attention is already beginning to shift towards what could become a far more important release.

The device being referred to in early reports as the iPhone 20 is expected around September 2027 and could coincide with the 20th anniversary of the original iPhone, which was introduced in 2007. That anniversary is feeding expectations that Apple may use the occasion for something more ambitious than its usual annual hardware refresh.

Nothing about the iPhone 20 name or final feature set should be treated as confirmed at this stage. The phone is still roughly a year away, and several of the technologies being linked to it remain under development. But the rumours now forming around the device point to a clear theme: Apple may be working towards a cleaner, more continuous iPhone design in which the display, sensors, controls and internal components all change at once.

Here is what the early iPhone 20 rumours are actually suggesting.

iPhone 20 could mark Apple’s biggest design change in years

The most important rumour concerns the phone itself.

Apple is reportedly developing an anniversary model with glass curving around its corners and edges, along with slimmer bezels. The broader idea appears to be an iPhone that looks less like a screen mounted inside a visible frame and more like a single continuous piece of glass.

Reports suggest Apple is exploring an equal-depth quad-curved display, with the screen curving around all four sides of the device. If that approach reaches production, the metal frame could become far less visually prominent than it is on current iPhones.

That would be a more substantial move than simply changing the camera layout, materials or colours.

The significance is also difficult to ignore. Apple used the iPhone’s 10th anniversary in 2017 to introduce the iPhone X, which changed the direction of the range. The growing expectation is that the company could be preparing another major visual shift for the 20th anniversary.

1. A quad-curved, all-glass appearance

The headline design rumour is a display that bends around all four sides.

Rather than having a clearly defined flat display bordered by a frame, the iPhone 20 could present a more uninterrupted glass surface. The intention appears to be a phone with fewer visible boundaries between the front, sides and surrounding structure.

Whether Apple can manufacture such a design at scale is another question. Curved displays introduce challenges involving durability, touch behaviour, repairs and internal packaging, which is why the final version could still differ substantially from what is currently being tested.

Still, among all the iPhone 20 rumours circulating, this is the one that could most clearly separate the anniversary model from today’s iPhones.

2. Much slimmer bezels

The curved-glass idea is reportedly being developed alongside significantly thinner bezels.

That matters because shrinking the border around the display would allow Apple to increase the phone’s visual screen area without necessarily making the handset itself much larger.

Taken together with the curved edges, slimmer bezels could give the iPhone 20 the near uninterrupted front appearance Apple has been gradually moving towards.

The phone may therefore look different not because it becomes radically bigger or smaller, but because much more of what users see is display.

3. A thinner and potentially brighter OLED screen

The display technology itself could change too.

Apple is reportedly considering Samsung OLED panels using Colour Filter on Encapsulation, or COE, technology. The approach can reduce the thickness of the display structure while allowing more light to pass through.

That could potentially help Apple produce a thinner screen while improving brightness without requiring a comparable rise in power consumption.

For an anniversary iPhone centred on an all-screen design, a thinner panel would also give Apple more flexibility when arranging the components underneath it.

4. Face ID could finally move underneath the display

One of the longest-running iPhone rumours may resurface with the 2027 model.

Apple is reportedly still developing under-display Face ID technology, which would place the facial recognition hardware beneath the screen instead of requiring a visible cutout.

If successful, it could remove another major interruption from the front of the iPhone and bring Apple closer to a completely uninterrupted display.

This is also one of the least certain parts of the current rumour picture.

Expectations around under-display Face ID have previously moved from one future iPhone generation to another, and there is still no guarantee that the technology will be ready for commercial use in 2027.

5. The front camera could also disappear beneath the screen

Face ID may not be the only component Apple wants to hide.

Reports also point towards work on moving the front camera hardware underneath the display. If Apple managed to conceal both the camera and Face ID sensors, the iPhone 20 could theoretically eliminate the visible front cutout altogether.

That would be one of the clearest visual changes Apple could make to the iPhone.

Again, this should be treated as a development target rather than a confirmed specification. Getting a camera to capture high-quality images through a display remains a technically demanding problem, making this one of the features most vulnerable to delay or modification.

6. Physical buttons may be replaced with solid-state controls

Apple could also change the way users physically interact with the phone.

The company is reportedly testing solid-state replacements for the Side, Volume, Action and Camera Control buttons. Instead of mechanically clicking when pressed, the controls would use haptic feedback to simulate the sensation of a button press.

It fits closely with the wider design direction being rumoured.

A phone built around curved glass, thin bezels and fewer visible interruptions would naturally benefit from controls that do not require traditional moving buttons breaking up the sides of the handset.

Solid-state controls could also reduce the number of mechanical components inside the phone.

7. Apple’s own modem could reach the premium iPhone

Some of the biggest iPhone 20 changes may be hidden inside.

Apple has been developing more of the technologies used inside its devices, including cellular modem hardware. Its C1 and C1X modem chips have already started appearing in newer and lower-cost products, and reports suggest an Apple-designed modem could eventually move into the company’s premium iPhones in the United States.

For Apple, bringing another major component in-house would give it greater control over how the modem works with the rest of the iPhone’s hardware and software.

The anniversary phone could therefore represent an internal redesign as much as an external one.

8. A custom Apple camera sensor could replace Sony hardware

The camera system is another area where Apple could take more direct control.

Apple is reportedly developing its own stacked image sensor, with a working prototype already said to exist.

The sensor is linked to LOFIC technology, which could allow individual pixels to deal with different quantities of light and potentially produce a wider dynamic range.

In practical terms, the goal would be better handling of scenes containing both very bright and very dark areas.

Whether that would produce a dramatic difference in everyday iPhone photography cannot be known from the current information. Camera performance depends not only on the sensor itself, but also on lenses and Apple’s image-processing software.

Still, replacing a major supplier component with Apple’s own technology would be significant.

9. An A21 chip could power the iPhone 20

Apple’s 2027 flagship is also expected to receive another generation of custom silicon.

If the company’s existing naming pattern continues, the processor could be called the A21 and could be manufactured using second-generation 2-nanometre technology. That expectation is based on the A20 being positioned for the iPhone 18 generation, making A21 the logical name for its successor.

Importantly, the A21 name remains an expectation rather than an announced product.

A newer manufacturing process would normally give Apple room to pursue gains in performance, efficiency or a combination of both, although no specific benchmark claims for the rumoured chip are confirmed in the material available.

10. Faster memory and a new type of battery are also being explored

Two less visible technologies could become especially important as Apple pushes more processing onto the device itself.

The company is reportedly evaluating mobile high-bandwidth memory using vertically stacked DRAM, which could increase memory bandwidth. That could become increasingly useful as more artificial intelligence workloads are processed directly on the iPhone rather than elsewhere.

Battery technology could change as well.

Apple is reportedly investigating silicon-anode batteries, which can store more lithium ions per gram than traditional graphite-based designs. If the technology becomes commercially viable for the iPhone, it could allow Apple to add battery capacity without simply making the battery physically larger.

For a device potentially carrying a brighter screen, more powerful processor and increased on-device computing, improvements in battery density could prove just as important as the headline design changes.

iPhone 20 screen sizes may remain familiar

For all the talk of a radical redesign, Apple may not dramatically alter the size of the phone.

The anniversary models are reportedly expected to remain broadly comparable with the current Pro size categories, with displays of around 6.3 inches and 6.9 inches.

That would allow Apple to introduce a noticeably different design without forcing buyers into unfamiliar phone dimensions.

It also suggests that the iPhone 20 story may be less about making the device larger and more about changing how efficiently Apple uses the existing space.

The biggest question is how many of these features will actually ship

The list of rumoured technologies is unusually ambitious: curved glass, thinner bezels, hidden facial recognition hardware, an under-display camera, solid-state buttons, a new OLED structure, an Apple modem, a custom camera sensor, next-generation silicon, faster memory and potentially different battery chemistry.

But there is an important distinction between technology Apple is reportedly testing and technology that will definitely reach consumers.

The 2027 launch remains far enough away for individual features to be delayed, redesigned or dropped. Under-display sensors and new display architectures are particularly complex, and previous ambitious iPhone features have reportedly slipped beyond their original expected timelines.

That makes the current iPhone 20 picture less of a final specification sheet and more of a view into the direction Apple may be considering.

What does appear consistent across the rumours is the objective.

Apple seems to be exploring an iPhone with fewer visible interruptions, less dependence on conventional mechanical parts and greater control over the key technologies inside the device.

If even a substantial portion of these ideas survives into production, the 2027 anniversary iPhone could become one of Apple’s most substantial smartphone redesigns since the iPhone X.

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