After months of rumors, Apple has officially unveiled its big iOS 26 ‘Liquid Glass’ redesign, and already the new design has made me want the forthcoming iPhone 17 Air more than ever. Here’s why.
Liquid Glass blends iPhone hardware and software more seamlessly than ever
The new Liquid Glass design of iOS 26 and Apple’s other platforms is not a short-term change.
As Craig Federighi said in the keynote, this is a once-in-a-decade kind of shift for Apple. It sets the stage for years of upcoming hardware innovations.
The more time I’ve spent considering iOS 26’s new design, the more excited I get for one upcoming product: the iPhone 17 Air.
That’s because by the time iOS 26 ships this fall, Apple will have just revealed its new ultra-thin iPhone model.
A model that no doubt was designed with Liquid Glass in mind.
Designer Sebastiaan de With, in his iOS 26 concept ‘Living Glass’, put it well before WWDC started:
Philosophically, if I was Apple, I’d describe this as finally having an interface that matches the beautiful material properties of its devices. All the surfaces of your devices have glass screens. This brings an interface of a matching material, giving the user a feeling of the glass itself coming alive.
That’s a great way to describe the new interface.
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