Here’s How Apple Plans to Change Liquid Glass Technology in MacOS 27.
Liquid Glass, Apple’s major design update for the 26-era, is, to put it mildly, controversial. Some users love it, others hate it, and still others despise it . There’s a real spectrum of opinions, especially considering Apple has implemented this design across all its products. The iPhone got it with iOS; the iPad with iPadOS 26; and, of course, the Mac with macOS 26. Apple later added controls to customize the Liquid Glass look on all these platforms, but it’s far from a switch. If you don’t like Liquid Glass, you probably won’t like Liquid Glass-lite.
However, criticism seems to be more focused on some platforms than others. While Liquid Glass on iPhone has its detractors, it’s the macOS interpretation of the design that’s causing the most discontent. Some users are unhappy with how Liquid Glass affects readability within the operating system. Overall, I like the design, but I agree that sometimes reading text on various elements can be more difficult than it should be. For example, if you open Control Center, the glass elements can obscure the text, especially if you open Control Center over a bright white article or Word document. The same can happen with other interface elements that blend into one another; the glass effect can make reading difficult.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman suggests these issues may be related to the different display types on Macs: Apple computers may be equipped with LCD or mini-LED displays, rather than OLED, as found on the iPhone, Apple Watch, and some iPads. It’s possible that Apple’s “glass effect” works slightly better on OLED displays than on other types, which is why most of the complaints are coming from Mac users. Apple is working on a MacBook with an OLED display , which could go on sale as early as this year, which could address some of the issues, but it won’t solve the problem for critics who already own a Mac.
In macOS 27, these readability issues could be addressed with Liquid Glass.
However, as Gurman reports, Apple plans to make some changes to the Liquid Glass design in macOS 27. The goal is to update shadows and transparency on the Mac: if Apple can adapt these elements and optimize them for the larger and more diverse Mac display types, Liquid Glass could become slightly more useful in macOS. Gurman’s source suggests that these changes reflect Apple’s original design intent. This doesn’t surprise me, as the company’s initial concept video looks somewhat smoother than the final result.
To be clear, however, this won’t be a “complete redesign” of Liquid Glass, and the design isn’t going anywhere. Gurman says macOS 27 will mark a “minor redesign” of Liquid Glass, but won’t completely change or remove it. If you’re a Liquid Glass fan, like me, this should be good news; if you’re a critic or skeptic, you might be a little disappointed.
But that seems to be Apple’s goal in the 27 era: refinement and improvement . Gurman previously reported that the new wave of updates coming this year will trade bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements for a host of new features. That seems like a great deal to me: my Apple products already do almost everything I need; if Apple could just make them a little smoother to use, that would satisfy most of my needs. Of course, the company probably isn’t going to completely abandon new features: it still has to update Siri with AI, as it promised two years ago ( and is currently settling a lawsuit over it ). But if macOS 27 significantly improves the look and feel of my Macs, I’ll be quite happy.