Samsung's Galaxy Edge 7 shown no side bezels, but a huge forehead and chinFormer Apple design chief Jony Ive had long seen the holy grail of iPhone design to be a single slab of glass without any bezels. A new supply-chain report says Apple had hoped that the iPhone 18 would see it achieve that objective, but it now looks unlikely.The goal, says the report, is to have the entirety of the front of the device be display, with the screen flowing seamlessly into the sides of the phone The single slab of glass visionIve may be long gone, but the company is believed to be still working toward his vision of a device which would look like a single slab of glass. From the front, you would see no bezels at all, only display.The companys first major step toward that was the launch of the iPhone X back in 2017, but progress since then has been incremental. Bezels have gradually decreased in width, but are still very much in evidence.Eliminating them altogether would require a curved display which bends around the sides of the device. The Apple Watch kind of fakes this look, by hiding the bezels beneath curved glass, but the companys goal for the iPhone is for the display to be active all the way into those curved edges.Samsung achieved this with the sides of its Galaxy Edge series, but there were very substantial forehead and chin areas.What Apple wants is the same thing on all four sides.iPhone 18 was the goal, but looking unlikelyTheElec reports that Apple was hoping to achieve a zero-bezel phone in 2026, with at least one iPhone 18 model, but its display suppliers have been struggling to deliver on what the company wants.At the request of Apple, it is known that Samsung Display and LG Display are developing an iPhone organic light-emitting diode (OLED) without a bezel, but[] the release of the zero-bezel OLED iPhone is currently uncertain in 2026 because there is not enough technology development to eliminate all the bezels.An industry official said, If Apple wants to launch a zero-bezel OLED iPhone in 2026, we should have already finished technical discussions with domestic panel companies, but we are still discussing it.While the core goal is feasible today, there are practical challenges which Apple wants to overcome before launching the design:Making the join between curved display and body waterproofAvoiding the magnifying glass effect you typically get with curved display edgesEnsuring the antenna still works effectivelyAddressing the vulnerability of the screen edges to impact damageIts believed Apples goal for 2026 would still have seen a punch-hole camera, as the tech needed to embed the front-facing camera beneath the display is unlikely to meet the companys quality standards by then, but this is the longer-term goal.Photos: Main Rzvan Bltreu (CC2.0); Watch Apple; Galaxy Edge 7 9to5GoogleAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel