iPhone 12: New 2020 model to bring back beloved older design, report suggests

Square chassis from iPhone SE and 4 would be major departure from recent look

(Getty)

Apple is planning a major redesign for next year's iPhone – that will bring back the look of a very old model, according to new reports.

The company is planning to make the 2020 model have the flat sides and curved, rectangular chassis of the iPhone 4, which was last seen in the iPhone SE, according to usually reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

In the past, Apple updated the design of its iPhone usually every other year. In recent releases, that has slowed down, and each design has appeared three times – suggesting that the 2020 iPhone could be the first major redesign, and see Apple drop the current iPhone X shape.

Instead, the company will redesign the chassis in keeping with the boxier look of the iPhone 4, according to Kuo, who was first quoted by Macrumors.

That design has already started to reappear in the iPad Pro line, which was redesigned last year and had some of the same flat sides and curved corners.

Apple is also expected to unveil new screen sizes with the 2020 models. This summer, Kuo said the biggest phones will have larger displays, though it is not clear if they will do so by expanding the overall size of the phone or expanding the bezel that sits around them.

All of those three displays will be OLED, he said, unlike the current mixed line-up that includes an LCD screen in the iPhone 11.

As well as the new design, Apple's 2020 phones – which could be known as the iPhone 12, or something else entirely – are also expected to bring 5G chips to the range for the first time.

The new iPhones will almost certainly arrive in September 2020, in keeping with previous releases.