Apple's design overhaul, known as Liquid Glass, secured a prestigious Gold Cube honor at the 2026 Art Directors Club of New York (ADC) awards, despite facing vocal opposition regarding readability issues across Mac, iPhone, and iPad. The award recognizes the initial release, which aimed to be a holistic reimagining of software aesthetics through simplicity and efficiency, establishing a new design language scaling across the system.

This recognition came as part of a strong showing for Apple, which claimed six total Gold Cubes at the 2026 event, matching their total from 2019. Other wins included categories for the Apple TV rebranding and direction for the "Someday" advertisement. The company’s pitch emphasized refined typography, expressive iconography, and the use of parallax to ground the experience in reality, making it feel more human.

Despite the critical design acclaim, Apple is expected to present an improved version of Liquid Glass at WWDC 2026 to address user concerns about translucency effects that hindered legibility. This follows previous iterative toning down of the design after its initial unveiling at WWDC 2025. Apple continues to back the design, with future updates planned for iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27.

One key figure associated with the initial rollout, Alan Dye, departed Apple for Meta shortly after the public release in September 2025. The ADC ceremony, where the awards were presented, is scheduled for May 15, 2026, at Cipriani Wall Street.