Is Apple’s Liquid Glass hinting at unreleased hardware?

Apple’s “Liquid Glass” universal design language is coming to iOS 16, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, and visionOS 26
Apple’s Liquid Glass, introduced at WWDC 2025, has sparked intense debate with its bold, translucent design language that promises a unified, immersive experience across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. While Apple touts its ability to enhance content visibility and leverage recent hardware advances, questions linger about its necessity and practical benefits for users. Developer Craig Hockenberry delves into the “why” behind Liquid Glass, exploring its potential connection to unreleased hardware and its implications for developers and the broader Apple ecosystem.
Craig Hockenberry for furbo.org:
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I’m unaware of anyone outside of Apple who’s thinking “we really need to have more fluid glass in our designs”. Of particular note during the [WWDC] introduction is how much time they spend showing off glass blocks and talking about the physical effect itself. While not addressing the most important question: “why do we need this?”
And I’m pretty sure the answer is “we don’t”. The answer is “Apple does.”
It’s like when safe area insets appeared in iOS 11: it wasn’t clear why you needed them until the iPhone X came along with a notch and a home indicator. And then it changed everything.
There has also been an emphasis on “concentricity”. It’s an impossible thing to achieve and an easy target for ridicule. But it’s another case where Apple wants to take control of the UI elements that intersect with the physical hardware.
All of this makes me think that Apple is close to introducing devices where the screen disappears seamlessly into the physical edge. Something where flexible OLED blurs the distinction between pixels and bezel. A new “wraparound” screen with safe area insets on the vertical edges of the device, just like we saw with the horizontal edges on iPhone X.

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MacDailyNews Take: There’s a growing sense of anticipation among a close observers of the company that Apple is gearing up to reveal the real reason for Liquid Glass (besides serving as a distraction from their long AI delays).

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