Apple's bezel-less iPhone 20 Glasswing to be buttonless, too

Apple's push to craft an iPhone with solid-state buttons has reportedly crossed a significant engineering milestone. According to the hardware leaker who first said that Apple may be ready with the solid-state button solution for the 20th anniversary edition of the iPhone in 2027, things are progressing nicely.

Such buttons that don't have mechanical moving parts have been rumored at least since the iPhone 15, but at the time, Apple just couldn't find a way to make them with the desired precision and quality control. The haptic side key system has now passed pressure-recognition tests under gloves, tips the report, as well as use case scenarios like wet fingers or extreme temperatures. The system has proved sensitive enough to work through phone wrappers like the official iPhone 17 Pro silicone case with MagSafe and camera control that is currently discounted on Amazon. This is exactly the set of real-world encounters that previously tripped up the technology when it was abandoned ahead of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 launches.

The kit reportedly relies on an ultra-low-power chip that keeps the buttons responsive even when the phone is switched off, solving one of the trickiest functional hurdles. The source now expects these buttons to debut on the anniversary iPhone, which Apple is targeting for a September 2027 release and which should feature a thorough design overhaul to bring it as close to the flowing iPhone design that has been rumored for ages.

Bezel-less, buttonless: the clean design of the 20th iPhone

An anniversary iPhone with solid-state buttons would tie up nicely with the changes on the display front, too. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has confirmed a project internally codenamed "Glasswing” after the respective butterfly. The term is used to describe a display that flows like a waterfall over all four edges, with the screen itself doing the curving rather than a conventional bezel. Speaking on the Geared Up podcast, Gurman described a screen that curves not just down the left and right sides but over the top and bottom edges as well, effectively eliminating every visible boundary similar to several Android concept phones.

He called it the "iPhone X design on steroids," as the hardware shift is already driving software decisions, with the iOS 26's Liquid Glass reportedly being redrawn from the ground up to blend seamlessly into this curved geometry.

The 20th-anniversary iPhone leak reiterates a number of additional features that are also in play for the final retail version, such as moving every front component like the Face ID kit and selfie camera, as well as the earpiece, under the display to keep the design uninterrupted. A tandem OLED panel and reverse wireless charging, as well as a harder Ceramic Shield cover glass version, are supposedly also in tow.

Which of these will make it to mass production remains to be seen, but it seems that the anniversary iPhone 2027 could be as close to the rumored uninterrupted look with no buttons or bezels as engineeringly possible.