When Apple announced its Vision Pro headset, a lot of people thought “cool — but not for me.”
Now, fast forward to iOS 26 and its new Liquid Glass UI — and suddenly everyone is talking. Some love the beautiful, fluid look. Others (especially designers and accessibility advocates) are raising big concerns: buttons are harder to see, text is less readable, and overall UX seems to have taken a back seat to aesthetics.
But what if this shift — love it or hate it — is part of a bigger move? A subtle way Apple is preparing us for a future where our primary computing experience won’t live inside a phone screen.
Apple’s Long Game: Training Us for Spatial Computing
This wouldn’t be the first time Apple has gradually nudged us toward new interaction models:
Mac → iPhone: Before the iPhone, Apple introduced multi-touch gestures on Mac trackpads. Once the iPhone launched, these gestures felt natural.
iPhone → iPad: The iPhone got us used to touch-first navigation. The iPad layered in multi-touch gestures for multitasking.
Home button → gestures: Removing the home button was a major shift — but it taught users to rely on gestures, not physical buttons. That’s critical for devices like Vision Pro, where interaction is fully gesture-based.
What’s Happening Now — and Why It Matters
With the Liquid Glass UI, Apple is now taking another big step — one that feels aimed squarely at the spatial future:
The UI feels layered and fluid, encouraging us to think beyond flat 2D screens.
Animations and transitions feel more like moving through space, not swiping through static screens.
Spatial audio and gesture-driven interactions across Apple devices further reinforce this shift.
Critics are right to call out the current UX issues — readability matters. But Apple may see this as a transitional phase: getting users comfortable with interfaces that feel more spatial and dynamic, even if today’s phone screen isn’t the ideal place for it.
Are We Ending the Smartphone Era?
Not immediately. Phones will remain essential for years. But the seeds of change are here:
Vision Pro is Apple’s first big spatial device — but it won’t be the last.
iOS and iPhone hardware are evolving toward more spatial, gesture-based experiences.
Future, lighter headsets (or AR glasses) may eventually replace the phone as our primary computing tool.
In that context, Liquid Glass — with all its current flaws — starts to make more sense. It’s not just about this year’s iPhone. It’s about getting us ready to think and interact in 3D space, not 2D screens.
Final Thoughts
When someone says “Apple is training us for VR/AR”, they’re onto something. The Liquid Glass controversy shows that this transition won’t be perfectly smooth — but it will be intentional.
So the next time you squint at a hard-to-read button at a fluid animation in iOS 26, consider this: you might just be practicing for a future where your main computer isn’t a phone at all, but the world around you.
