The ‘iPhone 20’ Could Go All-Screen With a Quad-Curved Glow-Up
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Apple’s 20th-anniversary iPhone will boast a custom micro-curved OLED display that is both brighter and thinner than existing panels, according to new supply chain information coming out of China.
Multiple reports suggest that Apple will adopt a radical new design for its 2027 iPhone model, boasting a totally bezel-less display that curves around all four edges of the device to mark the 20th anniversary of the iPhone, which launched in 2007.
To provide that design, Apple is reportedly sourcing an equal-depth quad-curved panel design by Samsung, that uses “micro-curves” to keep the curve quite shallow. Previous flexible Samsung panels sported much more aggressively curved edges.
Apple’s design for only slightly-rounded edges may stem from a desire to create a device that feels softer in the user’s hand and makes swipe gestures from the edge of the display feel more natural. This would also greatly reduce the distortion of screen content around the edges of the device.
This latest piece of information about the 20th-anniversary iPhone comes from Weibo-based leaker Digital Chat Station, who also says that Apple wants a “pol-less” display from Samsung, meaning a panel design that does away with the polarizing layer that is used on top of current OLED screens.
A September 2025 report out of South Korea tagged Samsung as the display supplier for the landmark iPhone, noting the company is developing a thinner and brighter OLED technology called COE (Color Filter on Encapsulation).
COE displays do away with the traditional polarizing film from an OLED panel, instead directly applying the color filter onto the encapsulation layer of the display.
The thinner display allows more light through, improving the brightness of the display while using less power. While the lack of polarizing film makes reflections a bit tougher to deal with, Apple’s latest iPhone have added a new anti-reflective coating that’s expected to undergo continual improvement in future iPhone generations.
A crater-shaped light diffusion layer in the display is also expected to even out the display’s brightness, making the screen appear to be uniformly lit across the entire display. Apple is widely expected to celebrate the 20th-anniversary iPhone in 2027 with a high-end all-glass model, with no cutouts in the display,
However, while many leakers believe Apple will have an under-the-display Face ID system ready to go for the celebratory 2027 models, some analysts like Ross Young think it’s not going to be ready for prime time by then, but that we’ll see under-display Face ID with a tiny hole-punch cutout for the device’s front-facing camera.
Young has reiterated that this year’s iPhone 18 Pro screen design will remain unchanged on the 2027 model.
Of course, I was saying that not all Face ID components will be under a transparent area of the display, resulting in a smaller notch. I could have said that more clearly. We expect this look to last for both 2026 and 2027…
As we reported then, while things could be ready in 2028, we’re likely still a few years away from seeing a screen with absolutely no cutouts. Likely, we’ll see Apple gradually move the rest of the Face ID sensors under the screen before it reaches the point where it’s ready to put the main selfie camera under glass.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]
