Apple's 3-year design plan just got me excited about the iPhone again

Poor old Apple. The tech giant has been struggling to catch a break recently, facing criticism for, among other things, lagging behind in the AI race, pandering to Donald Trump and releasing a string of curiously bad ads. But perhaps the most existential threat to Apple right now is its perceived lack of innovation, with iPhone upgrades becoming increasingly incremental.

But new leaks suggest Apple is planning to turn things around over the next three years, with next month's iPhone reveal event set to "lay the foundation for a once-in-a-generation iPhone overhaul". And if the rumours are true, the iPhone could finally become exciting again.

It's pretty much guaranteed that Apple is planning to launch a new model known as the iPhone 17 Air next month, featuring the slimmest iPhone profile ever. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman claims this is paving the way for the iPhone Fold, set to drop next year. Offering a radically different form factor, this could be the most exciting iPhone release in years, following a string of devices that look pretty much identical.

But that's not all. Gurman claims that in 2027, the 20th anniversary of the iPhone, we'll see another brand new design. The iPhone 20 will apparently feature a curved glass design, which "will finally break from the squared-off slab we’ve lived with since 2020 and move to an approach with curved glass edges all around."

While the latter might sound fanciful, we've actually seen Apple file a patent for such a device. As spotted by PatentlyApple, the filing describes a "six-sided glass enclosure" which appears "visually and tactilely seamless," despite actually featuring two separate glass elements. Apple says the device could feature "no dedicated or visually distinguishable front or top".

Time will tell what's in store – and we only have two weeks to wait what Apple is planning to release in 2025, with invites for its next event now public. The event might be titled 'Awe Dropping', but if anything, these reports suggest Apple might finally be reversing the trend of dropping the awe from its products.