iPhone 17 Previewed In iOS 26: What Liquid Glass Technology Reveals

Tom's Guide

IOS 26 Reveals IPhone 17 Secrets! What Liquid Glass Tell Us...  Coming to you from Apple Park, Kate and Mark from Tom's Guide are joined by TechRadar's Jake Krol to recap WWDC 2025. They go down the line to talk about the standout announcements from the keynote, what the software updates imply about future hardware, and how much AI was used to create Craig Federighi's F1 spoof hair. They wrap up by speculating about what iOS 26 reveals about iPhone 17, from the possibility of an Apple Intelligence button and a more Liquid Glass-appropriate Dynamic Island to slimmer bezels and a totally transparent iPhone. Check out the episode, and let us know what you'd want to see from iPhone 17!

Transcript

00:00Hey guys, WWDC 2025 has come and gone, but we are still here at Apple Park because we have a lot

00:07to break down. I'm Kate Kozic, we have Mark Spoonhour here, and we're joined by guest

00:13Jake Kroll from TechRadar, which I joined their podcast as well, so make sure you go check that

00:18out. But without further ado, let's go down the line and talk about the standout announcement

00:24from this year's keynote. Mark, why don't we start with you?

00:27So standout for me is usually the thing that gets the best reaction from the crowd,

00:31and I think in this particular case, it's got to be iPadOS because it finally gave us the

00:36multitasking that we were waiting for, and I think the line is blurring between the iPad

00:42and the Mac in a good way. Jake, what do you think?

00:45Yeah, I think for me, probably shortcuts on the Mac. I'm really excited about kind of the

00:50actually smart integrations. I find your picks very interesting. For me, it was all about

00:57the live translation powered by intelligence. Did you get a chance to check that out, learn a little

01:03bit more about it? I mean, other than like the demo that they showed, I haven't gotten like hands-on

01:08with it yet. Did you get a chance? I just love the idea of being able to text with someone in

01:12another language and see both at the same time in real time. As we're having conversations,

01:17I travel a lot. I feel like that's something for me that's going to win. Although, if I did have to pick

01:22a runner up, it would be Tim and Craig's little spoof of F1 to promote the upcoming Apple original

01:29film. His hair afterwards, I actually have this on good authority that it was AI that generated his

01:35hair when he came out of the car. So you too, Mark and Jake with AI could have that luscious post-race

01:43do. All right. Well, we'll get working on that. So we have a lot still to dive into, but I think if

01:49there was kind of one conversation that we could use to capture the essence of WWDC25, Mark, I'm

01:56actually going to put you on the spot here. You said something to me right after the keynote ended.

02:01Do you remember what that is? Yes. I said that WWDC was not about today. It was more about the

02:06preview of the hardware, the futuristic hardware that we could see tomorrow. What do you mean by that?

02:11Well, it depends on the OS, right? But with, I think the liquid glass interface, I think it could

02:17be a precursor to what we might see on the iPhone 17 air if that actually comes to market, but I

02:22think it will, but especially the 20th anniversary iPhone, because there's rumors that it's going to

02:27be, you know, all screen, right? So no notch. So what better way to compliment a device like that

02:32than with a liquid glass interface. So I think in a way they're sort of like tipping their hand of what

02:36could be coming. And then there's two other things. So one is vision OS, right? That was a big

02:41one for me. So the vision OS 26, which rolls off the tongue. It was pretty cool how you could like pin

02:50widgets like around your field of view. But when I saw people doing that, I was like, well, I'm not

02:55going to walk around with a one pound headset and do that every day, but I would do that with a pair of

03:01smart glasses, right? So we know that lots of companies are working behind the scenes on smart

03:05glasses and Apple's not going to say anything about future hardware ever. But we, we know that

03:11they're working on something like this behind the scenes. So I think that should come to fruition.

03:14And finally, I think with, you know, with iPad OS, the fact that it is now better at multitasking,

03:20it is more Mac-like. I think it opens the door, at least conceivably to a foldable iPad, right?

03:26Because now it's something that's truly for productivity. You have everything that you would

03:30have in a Mac. And if you have dual screens, then you have a lot more real estate to work with.

03:35And therefore the multitasking has to be solid, right? So I think, so that's what I mean,

03:40that that's what I mean about what could happen in the future. And this is all just in my head,

03:44but I think it could happen. Let me throw another idea out there. A Mac with a touchscreen.

03:51I'll let you take that one. Yeah. They seem very adamantly against it.

03:56And I think they, they kind of took the best of the Mac. We got like, you know, the classic red,

04:00yellow, green. I think that's what it is for like close, minimize, expand. They're kind of given

04:05like an iPad, iPad flair, right? It's the iPad version of multitasking. And they kind of appease

04:10the people who wanted the Mac OS to be on the iPad. I think it was Tim Cook who famously said when

04:16Windows 8 came out and they were putting, you know, laptops and tablets together, he basically likened

04:22them to putting a, like a refrigerator and then like an oven together, a refrigerator and a toaster.

04:27Yeah. Right. So I think if they did something like that, we'd have to revisit that line. So I

04:32don't see it happening, but I do think the lines are getting like closer, like they're, they're

04:36blurring. And I think it's in a good way. I don't know about you, but I am starting to envision what

04:41my life will look like. Sans MacBook, doing everything iPad with windows and being able to

04:49actually multitask and see multiple things at once. The amount of times that I just simply

04:54shut it and put it away in frustration because I can't use two apps at once.

04:58Yeah. Have you used the iPad as a like productivity device or mostly Mac?

05:03I mostly Mac. I've tried to go just with an iPad for like trips and you can do it, but it's tricky.

05:08Like the windows is, I'm very excited about that idea and that you can layer stuff like

05:14it. It'll feel a lot more natural, I think, but I think it depends on the size of the iPad.

05:18Yeah. I agree that there's like the, up until now there's been way too much friction. Like

05:21I remember the commercial from a couple of years ago where there's like the iPad is not

05:25a tablet, it's a computer. And I said, no, it's not. Cause I'm, my Mac is a computer. Now

05:29I think with all the refinements that they're making, including like the menu bar and the true

05:34files app and the multitasking stuff, I think that we're finally getting to a

05:38point where someone might consider an iPad as their primary PC.

05:43I was having some interesting conversations here at Apple park following WWDC with people

05:48about this exact topic. What are you doing when you go into an Apple store? What advice

05:52are you giving to someone who has seen these announcements come out, but still doesn't know

05:57which is right for them. And I think as the 26 software updates roll out, that's going to

06:03cause some interesting conversations to be had between the clerks and the people coming into

06:08the store who are in that probably quite large population going in, not knowing exactly what

06:12they need. Right. Yeah. The guidance is going to have to be a little bit better, but fundamentally

06:16I still think iPad is touch first, right? So it's not, it's not just for content consumption.

06:22It's also for creation, but I think it's still a touch first device. And I think fundamentally

06:27the Mac is more for productivity with entertainment, like layered on top. So that I think is going

06:32to remain the same, but I still think like, especially like for students, for example,

06:36who want to travel light, I definitely see people saying, well, okay, so which one should

06:40I get?

06:41Makes sense. It's interesting how this was supposed to be a software conversation, right? And how

06:48WWDC goes in on software. I know sometimes we get hardware announcements that didn't happen

06:54this year. I'm still very sad and waiting for my home pod with a display, but not, not waiting

06:59too long, hopefully. Um, but I think we're all very curious about the hardware implications.

07:05And I think that's where we start to resonate with people who are trying to learn more about

07:08what we saw and learned here. So, you know, we still have a couple of months until we're

07:13going to be back here in Apple park for the September event, which is when the new iPhone

07:17will be announced, the iPhone 17, presumably. And to be clear, the iPhone 17 was not announced

07:23or anything related to it at WWDC, but it gets our minds turning.

07:27It might be iPhone 26, by the way.

07:29Oh, very true. With those new naming conventions. I don't know, that might be taking it a little

07:33too far. Don't you think? Very confusing.

07:36What do you think WWDC told us about the iPhone 17? Did we get any unsaid implications? Let's

07:45like look into the tea leaves a little bit. I have a couple of ideas, but I'd love for

07:49you guys to start. And if you have any ideas, maybe Jake, we'll start with you.

07:52Yeah. I think, you know, going off what you said earlier, Mark, it's, it's definitely going

07:57to be sleek. And if that air rumored one does come to fruition, it'll pair really nicely

08:02with liquid glass. I think it'll be, it'll look thin and it'll seem kind of translucent

08:06on the screen. Um, and I think the kind of camera app changes may be hint at some upgrades

08:12there, especially if the focus is just going to be on photo and video. It's kind of smarter

08:16anticipating what you want to do. So maybe we might see a nice upgrade in terms of megapixel

08:20count or something like that.

08:22And the iPhone 17 air is tipped for one less camera lens. So maybe that's why we have less

08:26options in the camera app. Yeah, no, but, but I do think with the interface itself, I

08:32think look at Samsung, right? Like one of the criticisms, you know, against the galaxy

08:36S 25 edge is that they came out with new hardware without new software to go along with it.

08:41There weren't any new experiences. I'm sure that there'll be more if there's an iPhone

08:4417 air, but at least in this particular case, there's going to be a marriage of hardware

08:50and software, right? The translucency. I mean, the ultimate goal, like when we talk about

08:54futuristic phones, a lot of people talk about a transparent phone, right? So, so we could

08:59potentially get there someday. And like, in a way, this is sort of like leading us down

09:04that path.

09:05I agree. Liquid glass. That is what's going to be giving us that futuristic feel. That's

09:10going to be perhaps informing what experiences might come to the next generation of iPhone,

09:16right? Don't you even think that some slimmer bezels would really compliment this new, the

09:21new, especially that the apps and how you move between them?

09:24Definitely. Kind of like the series 10 watch. If it kind of like slopes a little down the

09:28edges, I think it would look really nice. Yeah. And I'm curious with like, we've been

09:31talking about the air, but about what about the regular phones, right? Like the only thing

09:34that we know so far is that like the camera island on the back or the patch is about to

09:40get a lot bigger, right? So like that, that's been most of the focus on the design so far,

09:44but I would like to see more attention paid to, we've heard about minimize, at least minimizing

09:49the notch, right? And looking at new display technology that would potentially, you know,

09:53shrink that area a little bit. We're not going to get rid of it altogether, but I think that

09:57would be nice. You're referring to the dynamic island as well. Yeah. I mean, you still need

10:01that, right? But you, but I still think you could do it through software. It could like just

10:04pop up, like the pop-up doesn't need to be in its own area necessarily. It could just be a

10:08part of the display of the display that's already there. I agree. And then also the lock screen has

10:14received quite a nice update with this new liquid glass experience. It has me thinking in the always

10:20on mode that it'd be a shame if the entry-level iPhones don't support always on. The rumor is

10:28that they are going to get 120 Hertz displays, but not be dynamic, meaning that it won't go from

10:35one to 120. So I think the bad news could be coming true in the sense that I don't think you

10:41can do always on, especially when you have like features like the alarm clock and that sort of

10:45thing, because I think you need that lower Hertz. So I think you're going to get faster refresh for

10:51things like games and animations, but you may not get always on. So the promotion may continue to be

10:58pro. We also heard some updates today related to Apple intelligence. And I know that there still

11:04is a lot to come in that space. And we'll actually get to Siri in a moment, but first I had an idea

11:09with, you know, the pressure to continue developing in the AI space and more importantly, get users to

11:16adopt Apple intelligence, right? And actually know that it's there. Could you envision Apple saying,

11:22okay, let's go all in and give an AI button hardware wise on the new phone? Could happen.

11:28It may be like the action button gets renamed or preset to that. But then I think you kind of lose

11:33some of the like custom customizability of it. Yeah. Cause you have the camera control button,

11:40which can be used for visual intelligence, right? But an Apple intelligence button wouldn't necessarily

11:46be a bad thing because it would be contextually aware, right? So here's an example, right? So visual

11:51intelligence, which is one of the features that's been upgraded in iOS 26, in order to like read the

11:57information or analyze the information on your screen, you have to do the screenshot gesture.

12:02Correct. And then you have to then like, like select the item on the screen and like, and then like

12:08select some options down below. It's a multi-step process for something like AI is actually supposed

12:13to be taking steps away, not adding them. So I think with a press of a button, you should be able to

12:19like actually speak to Siri and say, what's going on on my screen. And I know you're saying you're

12:22going to get to Siri, but maybe that's part of the issue is that Siri is not, we don't know what

12:26that integration is going to look like yet. Yeah. And we don't know when it's coming.

12:31That is true. We do not know when it's coming. There was some very specific language about

12:35more to come later this year. Now to me, the bells are going off in my head. I'm thinking it's going

12:41to be something along the same timeline as iPhone 17. Do you guys agree with that? Or do you think it

12:47might even deserve its own, its own breakout event? I don't know if they'll give it a breakout

12:52event, but I think it's going to be a lot longer than iPhone 17. I got some clarity around because

12:57the exact words were in the coming year, right? So that can mean a lot of different things, but I

13:02think we have confirmation that that means 2026. So unfortunately, I don't think it's going to happen

13:08as part of the iPhone 17 launch. So if I were Apple and if it was taking this long, then you might want

13:14to have a dedicated event. And to your point, maybe introduce new hardware at that event,

13:19like the HomePod with the display to really like showcase what the new assistant can do.

13:25Right. Cause the key is going to be showing people how it works, how it operates and what you might

13:30be need to do differently from how you currently engage. Or I think for a lot of people don't engage

13:35with Siri and convince them that it is worth that time with the new features. Can you clarify a little

13:41bit what you mean by this confirmation you may have gotten? Yeah. Like we had an interview with

13:46Craig Federighi, which is going to be posted to Tom's guide. Yes. By the time you're seeing this,

13:52this is already on our channel. So make sure you go check that out. Yeah. So they, they clarified and

13:58he also gave it like a very in-depth explanation as to why there's been a delay. And like the short of

14:03it is that it simply just didn't meet their standards. And I think they were moving towards a different

14:08model that would be required to handle the types of requests that the new Siri, you know, really

14:13needs. And, you know, they needed to push it back, you know, further than they wanted to.

14:18Did this come before or after the confirmation of AI created hair?

14:23This came afterwards. Yeah. I've worked up to it. Okay. Yes. You know, that was the big question.

14:29I'm sure. Let's chat really quick about the Apple watch, because I know that there were some

14:35interesting conversations going on today. And you guys know, I love Apple watch here on the channel.

14:41You see me doing our setup essentials, our reviews. Um, I was a little maybe underwhelmed by the amount

14:48of, or maybe few features that were announced this year. Did anything stand out to you?

14:52I like the intelligent smart stack where it will kind of suggest based on what you've done in the

14:58past, but also what you're using on your phone. So if you're in the camera app, it'll suggest,

15:02you know, using the camera shutter and stuff like that, that, that seems like handy just to have on

15:06your wrist. I think workout buddy was the standout feature. And like the fact that you could have a

15:11voice that is maybe giving you some encouragement that knows your data that says like, Hey, you've

15:17run this many times this week. Like you're about to hit your personal best. It'll actually know your

15:21pace, but there is a big trade-off that I don't know if you guys know about. You absolutely need to

15:27have your iPhone with you in order to enjoy that feature. And as someone like when I go for a run,

15:32I actually like to literally run away from my phone. So the fact that you have to have it with

15:38you, I think is a little bit of a bummer, but you can't do Apple intelligence, which this requires

15:43on something as small as a watch, at least not yet.

15:47Okay. So what does that tell us about Apple watch 11, right?

15:52Much better Silicon, right? No, it begs the question for sure. I think that the software

15:57announcements that we've heard are informing what we can expect to see down the line, you know,

16:02whether it be related to hardware that has not yet come from Apple, such as glasses, or even our

16:10updates to devices that we're already using every day, our iPhone and our Apple watch, right?

16:16If they can make the Silicon, if they could squeeze it down like a model, like a, like a nano like

16:21model into a watch, I think that would be a feat if they could do it.

16:26All right. Before we wrap up, we're going to do one more round of highlighting a feature that

16:32maybe was missed. Did you see anything that wasn't in the main keynote surfaced afterwards?

16:39Maybe it was a passing thought. I have some good ideas there.

16:43I think I saw one thing that with, you can now use Apple intelligence. Let's say you're on a website

16:49and it's like a bunch of tips, you know, uh, for making a pizza. So like the best tips for brick

16:54oven cooking, you can now share it out and you can have it jump into reminders and it would

17:00automatically curate it, list it out alphabetically, summarize it. That was pretty neat. And that's

17:05like, I feel like that could have made the keynote theoretically.

17:09Yeah, I actually, yeah, I had learned that too during the briefing that we had around Apple

17:13intelligence. There's nothing else that I've learned so far that wasn't in the keynote, but in

17:17terms of like sort of underrated features, I would say like in the phone app, the fact that it can now

17:22do the things that the Google pixel can, uh, is important in terms of being able to like screen

17:27your calls and also wait on hold for you. So you don't have to listen to all that hold music. So

17:33overdue, but still welcome. And if you have an iPhone, it's new for you.

17:37Absolutely. I saw videos of that presentation blowing up on Tik TOK. Speaking of which you can find a lot

17:44more from WWDC on at Tom's guide on Tik TOK. And I'll give you guys one more that I thought was,

17:50was super cool. Um, the AirPods updates, there are two little AirPods updates that kind of snuck in

17:56there. The first of which is the microphone are going to be improved for more studio quality

18:02performance. You can actually not just for phone calls, you'll sound better on AirPods four and AirPods

18:07pro two, but also if we are recording a podcast, creating some other content, theoretically your AirPods

18:14should be much more capable than that. I know that was a much needed upgrade. And then the second

18:18of which is pretty cool. You know, the camera control feature on your Apple watch. So it's been

18:24totally re-imagined for an AirPods experience where the stem holding it can do a remote capture

18:31for your iPhone. So if you don't have an Apple watch or that's not really what you need, you want

18:35to do something kind of subtle. I don't know if you actually have to have an AirPods in your ear for

18:39that to work, or if you can just kind of hold it like a remote, but I thought that was really cool.

18:43That'd be cool if you could do it on the sly, you know? Yeah. It's one of those things where

18:46like, if it were announced separately, I think it would have been like the top news story of the

18:50day, but you know, things, things get lost when there's so much being announced and when there

18:54are such drastic changes, such as a complete software overhaul with liquid display. I thought

19:01that was really cool. All right. Let me throw it to you guys at home watching. Let me know in the

19:07comments about what you were hoping to see, uh, from WWDC and then what you're in the future

19:12hoping to see from iPhone 17. Now that we know more about iOS 26, maybe IO iPhone 26 is what we're

19:20saying, right? That'll be, I want to see a poll going for that in the comments. Um, I want to say

19:25thanks to Jake Kroll from Tech Radar for joining us again. Make sure you go check out Tech Radar's

19:31podcast for more. Then we also have Mark again, who has an amazing interview. Um, he hosted that with our

19:38friend Lance over at Tech Radar as well. That is on the channel. Be sure to check that out.

19:43And again, by the time you're seeing this, we're already a couple of days out of WWDC. So we are

19:49getting ready for iPhone 17 and all the lead up to that will be found right here on this channel.

19:55So make sure that you subscribe, hit that like button and turn on notifications. So you don't miss out.

20:01I hope you enjoyed hanging out with us. Thank you both for joining us and we will catch you next time.

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