Liquid Glass Finally Makes Sense: The New iPhone Duo Impresses

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents Liquid Glass Finally Makes Sense: The New iPhone Duo Impresses.

“Liquid Glass finally makes sense”—that is how WIRED sums up the new iPhone Duo and Apple's revised interface. This assessment goes beyond an attractive appearance: Apple admits that the original approach relied too heavily on gloss, reflections, and color effects. Some text was already barely legible in Apple's own press release, while users reported constant mirroring and distracting color changes.

The decisive shift came with iOS 27 and updates to Apple's other software structures. The controls gained clarity and structure, and the look focused more strongly on how the system functions. In other words, the debate surrounding Liquid Glass is losing some of its intensity because Apple is now demonstrating the practical benefits of its new visual language, rather than merely showcasing it.

Apple Builds the Original Effect Back In

The slider in Settings

Apple responded to the criticism without abandoning Liquid Glass entirely. The company said it would tone down the interface to keep complex content readable. At the same time, it acknowledged that not all users want the same effect: Some prefer a more strongly tinted appearance, while others want Liquid Glass to be even clearer.

You can make this choice yourself using the Liquid Design Slider in Settings. Indie developer Ben Rice McCarthy, who is responsible for apps such as Obscura and Indigo, immediately moved the slider to the strongest tint in his test. Afterward, the readability problems he had criticized had largely disappeared for him.

McCarthy remains fundamentally critical. His verdict on the new system is considerably more positive: Liquid Glass introduced many problems without adequate solutions, but the current operating systems have solved or improved many of them. He particularly emphasized the interface's adaptability. Buttons can expand into menus, controls can merge and divide when switching between views such as cells, while toolbars expand and collapse depending on the size of the window.

The Duo Suits a Flexible Interface

Two displays with the same aspect ratio

With the iPhone Duo, the software visibly fits the hardware for the first time. When closed, the device is passport-shaped, wider and more compact than today's taller iPhones. When opened, it automatically switches to landscape and is reminiscent of the iPad Mini*'s format. Apple wanted to avoid the abrupt transition that is often visible between the displays of competing foldable smartphones.

The transition begins with the device's construction. Apple's vice president of industrial design, Molly Anderson, explained in a September keynote video that the Duo was developed around a uniform aspect ratio for both displays. Software and hardware work together: Content moves seamlessly from one screen to the other instead of being inserted afresh each time.

The controls remain on the side

Liquid Glass also gives Apple more freedom to position important controls on the Duo. When the device is closed, the side arrangement creates additional room for content. When it is opened, the controls remain in the same place, so you do not have to look for them again every time. If you rotate the device, the elements rearrange themselves and adapt to the situation.

For WIRED, this is precisely the difference between the design and mere aesthetics: The design supports the foldable device's functionality instead of setting content and controls against each other. On other Apple devices, the revised look has moved closer, according to WIRED, to the watery Aqua interface introduced by Apple in 2000. On the iPhone, Liquid Glass is usable again; on the Duo, it becomes an experience.

iOS 27 Puts Content Back in the Foreground

Greater clarity instead of a permanent effect

The biggest difference from the controversial introduction does not lie in a single animation. Apple has redistributed its priorities: Controls should stand out clearly from the content, and the interface should no longer have to compete for attention with reflections, gloss, and flickering color transitions.

Apple's human-interface designer Shubham Kedia described the update in the keynote video as a natural, iterative process. The team explicitly took user feedback into account and refined the new design accordingly. In doing so, Kedia directly addressed one of the criticisms of the original without expressly apologizing for the problems it had caused.

The technical foundation is Vision Pro, whose mixed-reality headset inspired the translucent design language. Apple subsequently transferred it to millions of other devices. This rollout exposed the weaknesses: A lack of clarity between devices impaired accessibility, while constant mirroring and color changes were criticized as distracting.

With iOS 27 and the accompanying updates, the design is shifting back toward Steve Jobs's original design philosophy: Design is not only expressed through appearance, but above all through how it works. WIRED therefore describes the current systems as more stable and less fragile. They are increasingly tailored to the respective device rather than forcing a universal aesthetic onto everything.

Not Everything Is Complete Yet

Apple is paying with a lengthy app transition

The positive overall verdict does not mean that Liquid Glass is already flawless. McCarthy still sees unresolved inconsistencies and is calling for greater consistency in the materials used. Whenever the underlying visual languages no longer fit together, the metaphors fall apart, he says.

Supporting the new Duo also requires work from developers. Developer Steve Troughton-Smith wrote that it could take six months to a year for some iPhone apps to support the Duo properly. Many teams are still working to complete the transition to Liquid Glass that began in the previous year.

Apple's new vision therefore remains more than a story about successful design. At the same time, it shows how long it can take for apps and interfaces to adapt. The iPhone Duo makes Liquid Glass easier to understand because the new interface visibly puts its strengths to use on this device. Nevertheless, the system's practical success will only become fully apparent when the apps embrace the new form factor.