Apple's rumored all-glass iPhone expected to mark the device's 20th anniversary has been canceled, according to Jefferies analyst Edison Lee.
Rumors have circulated since at least 2025 that Apple was developing a radically redesigned all-glass iPhone, with launch expected as early as September 2027. Lee's analysis today provided in Barron's claims that his firm's supply chain checks now point to the project being scrapped due to poor production yield, the rate at which manufacturing produces defect-free units.
As a result of the findings, Jefferies downgraded Apple stock to "Underperform," the equivalent of a "Sell" rating, from "Hold" today, cutting its price target to $263.66 from $285.56, one of the lowest on Wall Street. Apple shares fell 2.1% following the downgrade.
The all-glass iPhone has been rumored for well over a year as the most significant redesign since the iPhone X, expected to arrive in fall 2027 alongside a second-generation foldable iPhone. Reports pointed to a curved glass panel wrapping around the front and back with virtually no cutouts in the display, along with under-display Face ID and solid-state buttons.
Lee previously viewed the all-glass iPhone as a plausible upcoming release, and its apparent cancellation changes his view of Apple's ability to raise iPhone prices going forward. He called the move a major setback for pushing higher-priced iPhones as memory costs continue to climb. Had it launched in 2027, Lee estimated the device would have carried a blended retail price of around $2,060, higher than any previous iPhone.
The bigger concern for Lee is what the cancellation means beyond a single model. He believes Apple had planned to eventually bring all-glass styling to the iPhone Pro and Pro Max lines as well, in a move he saw as a way to further raise those models' average selling price and margin at a time when rising memory costs are squeezing profitability.
Lee also pointed to Apple's AI strategy and rising component costs for the "iPhone 19 Pro Max," expected in 2027, as additional reasons behind the downgrade. The slow rollout of Apple Intelligence, he argued, makes it harder for Apple to justify equipping more iPhones with the extra RAM needed to run AI models on-device.
It remains unclear whether Lee is describing the end of the entire 20th-anniversary redesign or just its all-glass display component. It has repeatedly been questioned whether Apple can eliminate the Dynamic Island next year at all, given the engineering hurdles involved, meaning a genuinely seamless glass front may never have been realistic regardless of Lee's yield and cost concerns. Even so, other elements of the rumored 20th anniversary design, including the quad-curved chassis, could still be on track.
