Apple’s new high-end iPhones will feature an iPhone 5-like design

Apple will introduce four new iPhones this fall, according to a Bloomberg report, and at least some of them will sport a new design reminiscent of the 2018 and 2020 iPad Pro models or the iPhone 5.

Citing people familiar with Apple’s plans, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman writes that in addition to successors to 2019’s iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max, Apple will introduce not one but two successors to the iPhone 11. However, the report does not go into as much detail about the lower-end phones as it does the flagships. At least some of these phones would support 5G.

The 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max successors will have “flat, stainless steel edges… as well as sharply rounded corners” similar to what you may remember from the iPhone 5 back in 2012 and likely taking much more explicit cues from the iPad Pro design first introduced in 2018 and refreshed just a few weeks ago. They will also have flat screens rather than the curved edges found in today’s iPhones and smaller notches on the front. Also, at least the larger of the two flagships will have a slightly larger screen than its predecessor.

The report claims that while the Pro iPhones will continue to offer three camera lenses and the successors to the lower-end iPhone 11 will have two, the high-end models will also include the lidar augmented reality (AR) sensor first introduced in the 2020 iPad Pro. Apple will also introduce a “significant upgrade” to the processor, aimed at improving the efficiency and speed of both AR and AI tasks.

Apple’s engineers are expected to make a trip to China in May to finalize the design, but the phones might ship a few weeks later than usual as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. People familiar with Apple plans still expect the phones to ship in the same fall window as usual, though—just maybe a few weeks later in that window.

The report does not touch on the rumored iPhone 8-based iPhone SE that is still expected this spring.

HomePod, Tags, and other products

The report also touches on a few other rumored Apple products. The sources say that Apple is moving ahead with the oft-delayed effort to introduce a cheaper alternative to the HomePod as early as the second half of this year. It would be half the size of the original HomePod but with a similar design.

It has also been a poorly kept secret that Apple is working on a product called Apple Tags that would compete with Tile to help users track and locate lost personal items. The “thin, small, puck-shaped” Tags would be “bundled with an Apple-designed leather sleeve and a keychain to attach it to objects,” Gurman writes. Previous reports have indicated that Tags would be locatable via augmented reality, in addition to the usual functionality for these types of devices.

Finally, the sources say Apple is working on new versions of the MacBook Pro, iMac, and Apple TV, plus updated budget iPads—but no further details were given.