According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple has no plans for a dramatic visual reset next year, despite some users voicing their concerns about Liquid Glass and its impact on readability and performance for iPhone.
That stance has raised eyebrows following the December 2025 departure of Alan Dye, the longtime design leader most closely associated with Liquid Glass, who left to join Meta.
Some observers assumed Apple would quietly retreat from the aesthetic once Dye exited.
Instead, Gurman has claimed the company remains “very attached” to the direction, stressing that Liquid Glass was a collective decision rather than the vision of a single executive.
As a result, iOS 27 is expected to deliver refinements rather than reversals.
Apple is reportedly addressing readability complaints through subtle tweaks, while keeping the translucent layers, depth effects, and motion-heavy interface that define the look introduced in iOS 26.
With the design largely locked, Apple’s priorities are shifting elsewhere.
iOS 27 is shaping up to be a stability- and intelligence-focused release, emphasising bug fixes, performance improvements, and long-overdue code cleanups - particularly for older iPhones and iPads.
Gurman has described the update as a relatively “muted” one in terms of visual change, but more ambitious under the hood.
The headline feature is expected to be a revamped Siri, rebuilt around a chatbot-style interface and deeply integrated into the operating system.
Rather than shipping as a standalone app, the new Siri will reportedly be embedded system-wide, capable of summarising web results, generating text and images, assisting with coding, analysing documents, and acting on personal data to complete tasks.
The assistant is also said to gain screen awareness, allowing it to understand open windows and on-screen content.
Under the hood, Apple reportedly plans to rely on a new generation of its internal Foundation Models, while leaning on cloud infrastructure from Google for more demanding AI workloads.
Meanwhile, Apple has scaled back earlier ambitions for a sweeping AI-driven Health app overhaul, opting instead for incremental improvements.
Apple is expected to unveil iOS 27 at WWDC this summer, with a developer beta following shortly after.
