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Apple's Liquid Glass Design: A Mixed Bag of Pros and Cons, More Size-Related Controversy

Over the past two decades, I've observed Apple's software evolution, from the wooden bookshelves of iOS 6 to the neon-tinted panels of iOS 7, then to the frosted-glass translucency of Yosemite and the current Sonoma's minimalist design. Despite the numerous changes, I never anticipated Apple...

Apple's software interface has undergone significant transformations over nearly two decades,...
Apple's software interface has undergone significant transformations over nearly two decades, evolving from the wooden bookshelves of iOS 6 to the neon-tinted panels of iOS 7, from the translucent frosted-glass design of Yosemite to the minimalist Sonoma. Despite all these changes, I never anticipated Apple would make such a shift in its design philosophy.

Liquid Glass: The Revolutionary Design Language from Apple

Apple's latest offering, Liquid Glass design language, unveiled at WWDC 2025, is a game-changer. This dynamic, adaptive visual approach promises to unify the Apple ecosystem like never before. Let's dive in and see what makes Liquid Glass so unique.

What's All the Fuss About?

Liquid Glass isn't just a buzzword; it's a breath of fresh air in the world of user interfaces. It's not just about frosted translucency on steroids—it's an environment-sensitive, context-aware material engine that transforms the way we interact with our devices.

Imagine a Dark Mode slider that shifts colors subtly, or sidebars that twirl flecks of your wallpaper's gradient into a mesmerizing blur. Liquid Glass isn't about static blur; it's real-time light-field rendering that factors in your chosen wallpaper, ambient brightness, and even the rhythm of your scrolling thumb.

Under the hood, Apple's new rendering engine calculates refraction and color adaptation on the fly, allowing buttons, panels, and widgets to don a shimmering sheen that varies from device to device, creating a truly unique and personalized user experience.

Developers, Unite!

With Apple's Human Interface Guidelines, developers can effortlessly tap into SwiftUI, UIKit, and AppKit APIs to adopt Liquid Glass, thanks to the dedicated hardware acceleration baked into every Apple Silicon chip. No more performance penalties here!

A Mixed Bag of Opinions

The design community's response has been a rollercoaster ride, with an outpouring of enthusiasm on Twitter and concerns about accessibility. While many applaud the buttery-smooth real-time blur effect, accessibility advocates worry about the potential for overly translucent panels to diminish text contrast for users with low vision.

A Luxury Only Apple Can Afford

Liquid Glass—a lavish, frivolous, yet necessary next step for Apple. With its silicon-centric vertical integration, Apple owns every link in the hardware-software chain, making it possible to unify all its platforms under a coherent visual language.

Whether you love it or loathe it, Liquid Glass stands as a testament to Apple's unmatched design craftsmanship. It's the type of innovation that sets new standards and leaves the competition scrambling to catch up.

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Jayesh Shinde

Executive Editor at our platform. Technology journalist since Jan 2008, with stints at Indiatimes.com and PCWorld.in. Enthusiastic dad, reluctant traveler, weekend gamer, LOTR nerd, pseudo bon vivant. View Full Profile

Additional Insights

  • Liquid Glass uses lensing, a technique that dynamically bends and shapes light, to provide visual separation and layering.
  • Multiple layers of Liquid Glass are used to present information without cluttering the interface.
  • Liquid Glass integrates well with the rounded corners of modern Apple devices, creating a seamless and immersive user interface.

Technology plays a significant role in Liquid Glass, Apple's latest offering, as it involves real-time light-field rendering and dynamic lensing to bend and shape light, providing visual separation and layering. This innovative approach, a part of the Liquid Glass design language, is revolutionizing user interfaces by presenting information without cluttering and integrating well with rounded corners of modern Apple devices.

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