Apple wanted the iPhone 18 to be that ‘single slab of glass’ but it looks unlikely

Samsung's Galaxy Edge 7 shown – no side bezels, but a huge forehead and chin

Former Apple design chief Jony Ive had long seen the holy grail of iPhone design to be “a single slab of glass” without any bezels. A new supply-chain report says Apple had hoped that the iPhone 18 would see it achieve that objective, but it now looks unlikely.

The goal, says the report, is to have the entirety of the front of the device be display, with the screen flowing seamlessly into the sides of the phone …

The ‘single slab of glass’ vision

Ive may be long gone, but the company is believed to be still working toward his vision of a device which would look like a single slab of glass. From the front, you would see no bezels at all, only display.

The company’s first major step toward that was the launch of the iPhone X back in 2017, but progress since then has been incremental. Bezels have gradually decreased in width, but are still very much in evidence.

Eliminating them altogether would require a curved display which bends around the sides of the device. The Apple Watch kind of fakes this look, by hiding the bezels beneath curved glass, but the company’s goal for the iPhone is for the display to be active all the way into those curved edges.

Samsung achieved this with the sides of its Galaxy Edge series, but there were very substantial forehead and chin areas.

What Apple wants is the same thing on all four sides.

iPhone 18 was the goal, but looking unlikely

TheElec reports that Apple was hoping to achieve a zero-bezel phone in 2026, with at least one iPhone 18 model, but its display suppliers have been struggling to deliver on what the company wants.

At the request of Apple, it is known that Samsung Display and LG Display are developing an iPhone organic light-emitting diode (OLED) without a bezel, but […] the release of the zero-bezel OLED iPhone is currently uncertain in 2026 because there is not enough technology development to eliminate all the bezels.

An industry official said, “If Apple wants to launch a zero-bezel OLED iPhone in 2026, we should have already finished technical discussions with domestic panel companies, but we are still discussing it.”

While the core goal is feasible today, there are practical challenges which Apple wants to overcome before launching the design:

• Making the join between curved display and body waterproof
• Avoiding the “magnifying glass effect” you typically get with curved display edges
• Ensuring the antenna still works effectively
• Addressing the vulnerability of the screen edges to impact damage

It’s believed Apple’s goal for 2026 would still have seen a punch-hole camera, as the tech needed to embed the front-facing camera beneath the display is unlikely to meet the company’s quality standards by then, but this is the longer-term goal.

Photos: Main Răzvan Băltărețu (CC2.0); Watch Apple; Galaxy Edge 7 9to5Google