"The 20th Anniversary iPhone"

Been seeing this one bounce around the rumor mill and reddit and personally, I'm kind of tired of it. Because I'd bet a Caniac Combo that there is no supposed 20th Anniversary iPhone, simply because there's absolutely zero precedent for it in today's Apple.

 

These rumors swirled back in 2017, too, and I think what John Gruber wrote about it then is still relevant today: 

"Apple is not going to make a special edition of any product — let alone the iPhone, their most important product — just to mark an anniversary. Don’t tell me about the 20th Anniversary Macintosh — that was a product from the old Apple that was heading toward bankruptcy, and a perfect example of why they shouldn’t do something special to mark something as arbitrary as an anniversary."

That was almost ten years ago. And sure, one might argue that Apple did in fact introduce such an iPhone in the iPhone X, but I really, strongly believe that the X name was more of a nod to Mac OS X, or specifically how it was introduced by Jobs. Because when Mac OS X was unveiled, he claimed it would set Apple up "for the next ten years". Which is what the iPhone X did for the iPhone ecosystem. The design paradigms set by the iPhone X set the iPhone as a whole up for the next ten years.

 

At the time, there was no precedent for Apple celebrating device milestones like this with special SKUs. If you'll recall, the iPod was a revolutionary product that dragged the music industry kicking and screaming into the modern age. It was immensely popular. Such that it stands next to the iconic Sony Walkman as far as cultural influence goes.

 

Its tenth year anniversary in 2011 went by with not even so much as a peep from Apple. Sure, here's a new nano...but the Classic that started it all was left to languish in the face of the much hotter iPhone (and iPod touch).

 

Now, let's fast forward to 2026, where all these rumors are swirling again and multiple Apple products have now crossed that magical decade line in the sand. What did Apple do to celebrate those devices? What special SKUs did they release?

None. They released none. The Apple Watch turned 10 in 2025, and Apple just continued apace with Watch development, announcing the usual updates, as they do. No special SKU, no special edition Watch.

 

The iPad turned 10 in 2020. Nothing special released, just the usual product updates. Seemingly zero mention about the iPad turning 10 anywhere from Apple (and if it was, it was very quickly forgotten).

 

The iPod celebrated it's 20th anniversary in 2021! And you know how Apple celebrated it? By killing off the last surviving iPod model (the touch) a year later. That's one hell of an anniversary SKU, I guess.

 

The point I make here is that given precedent, Apple is not going to produce a specific 20th anniversary SKU for 2027. They're just going to produce another iPhone. Maybe it'll be something wild like the X was. Maybe whatever the supposed folding iPhone is won't actually be coming this year, but next.

 

But Apple won't call it "the 20th anniversary iPhone". Absolutely not.

 

Especially considering the last 20th anniversary-specific product Apple introduced was a disastrous flop.