Apple radically transforms the design of all its devices with liquid glass. Behind this fairly attractive harmonization hides a strategy that speaks volumes about the state of innovation of the brand.
Do you teach your iPhone, Mac and Apple Watch? You have certainly noticed that every device seems to live their own lives, with its visual codes and its small manias. Good news: Apple has finally admitted the problem.
With iOS 26, iPados 26, MacOS Tahoe 26, Watchos 26, TVOS 26 and Visionos 26, Apple implements a uniform visual language on all its platforms for the first time. This new translucent design is called “Liquid Glass” and is a major change in Apple’s strategy, which ultimately recognizes the fragmentation of its ecosystem.
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Apple revolves the interface of the iPhone and Mac: all images of Apple Liquid Glass
But beware, this long harmonization hides questionable choices. And as behind this beautiful translucent showcase, Apple mainly masked a cruel lack of innovation?
When Apple finally recognizes his inconsistencies
An iPhone, iPad, macOS, TVOS, Watchos user are … Navigating in the Apple universe was sometimes the big gap. Your iPhone shows round and colorful icons, your Mac is in favor of rectangular and gray windows, your Apple Watch gambles on small complications. Not to mention the professional vision and the interface that seemed to come from a different world.
This visual cacophony became embarrassing. How to pretend to “offer” The most integrated ecosystem in the world If your own devices are not on each other? Apple finally admitted, eight years late on Google and the material design.
Because yes, Google had a uniform Android, Chrome and his services in 2014. Microsoft followed in 2017 with fluent design. In the meantime, Apple continued to develop its platforms in silos, each with its small team and its details. Result: a visual patchwork that is currently trying to restore liquid glass.
Liquid Glass: Marketing dressed in innovation?
Not, Apple demos are amazing. These translucent interfaces that float, these refractive effects that adapt to your environment, this feeling of depth … Technically it is impressive. Aesthetically it is successful.
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But let’s dig a little. Behind these effects ” Wow“What really changes liquid glass in your daily life?” Do you send your e -mails faster? Do you find your photos easier? Does your productivity improve?
The answer can be disappointing. Liquid glass is particularly a problem … of apple communication. The company wanted a strong, recognizable, instagramable visual signature. Mission completed. But for you, an average user, the impact will probably remain cosmetic.
Even worse: this graphic refinement has costs. These gastronomic translucent effects require your processor and battery. On your Apple Watch already limited in autonomy, these fringes will probably regret the old, more sober design.
The hidden price of this transformation
And behind the scenes? Apple has thousands of software divided between iOS, macOS, Watchos, TVOS, iPados and Visionos. All had to stop their current projects to concentrate on … visual effects.
These same engineers could have improved the performance of your iPhone, correct the bugs that you have irritated or develop real innovations for months. Instead, they spent months faltering your menus.
And you, application -developer? Prepare to reconsider your interfaces, adjust your icons, view your animations. Thousands of working hours for … that your app is integrated into the new Apple look. Not really the time you would rather have devoted to new functions for your users.
The Google lesson that Apple refuses to learn
Let us observe the strategy of Google. Material design requires clear but flexible rules. A button remains a button, whether on Android, Chrome OS or Gmail. But every platform retains its specificities. Your smartphone does not try to look like your computer.
Google understood that intelligent unification does not mean that forced standardization. With material you, launched in 2021, and now material 3 Expressive, the interface even adapts to your personal taste. More diversity in unity, no less.
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Apple does the opposite. Liquid Glass imposes the same visual language everywhere, from your 42 mm watch to your 27 -inch iMac screen. A rigid approach that can erase the details of any device. Will your Apple Watch become illegible? Does your Mac lose in professional efficiency? We’ll see.
Innovation or powder in the eyes?
Let’s ask the real question: Why does Apple now bet everything about aesthetics? The answer can be less flattering than expected.
Look at the last years. The Pro vision is struggling to convince. Apple Intelligence accumulates delay against chatgpt and gemini. The growth of the iPhone slows down. Break innovations are rare. In this context, a large visual revision enables you to create the event without taking major technical risks.
It is smart, but it is also revealing. Apple would rather refine the existing instead of finding out the future. A defensive strategy that retains current customers but does not conquer new ones.
But let’s not be unfair: the Apple Ecosystem needed consistency. Liquid glass responds to a real problem. And technically the result seems to be successful.
But timing and priorities question. Mobilize so many resources about an aesthetic revision demand the vision of Apple. Would this energy not be better invested in real innovations?
History will tell us if 2025 finally unites the rise of an apple or the start of a standardization that exhausts the experience.
