Engadget’s Devindra Hardawar comes the closest in saying “Apple’s Liquid Glass is Windows Vista done well” but admits “I can’t really convince you otherwise if you think it looks ugly, as many of my Engadget colleagues do.”

Indeed, Liquid Glass does bring somewhat of a major change to iOS 26, or what we would have called iOS 18 (Apple is switching iOS numbers to years, and iOS 26 will release in the fall). I've been using the developer beta of iOS 26 for some weeks now,

Liquid Glass is both is and isn't a big deal for your iPhone. It adds a shiny new look to the user interface while keeping everything familiar.