Sources: Apple is planning an iPad Pro-like design with flat edges and a smaller notch for iPhones, a smaller, cheaper HomePod, and Apple Tags for the fall
- iPhone's fall refresh to add 5G on as many as four new models — Smaller HomePod speaker, location tags for keys in development
Context & Ripple Effects
This April 2020 report laid out Apple's fall roadmap while the pandemic was disrupting supply chains: 5G on as many as four new iPhones, an iPad Pro-style flat-edge redesign with a smaller notch, a smaller cheaper HomePod, and Apple Tags for finding keys. The follow-on coverage shows how it played out — by September, Apple was reportedly building ~75M 5G iPhones for later that year, but the September event shipped only a new Watch and iPad Air, pushing the iPhone debut back.
The report matters because it marks the start of a multi-year design arc: the flat-edge language and notch shrinkage previewed here resurface in 2021's modest iPhone update, which was still working on the same smaller notch — evidence of how slowly Apple iterates its front-of-device look once a direction is set.
First-order effects
- Apple's fall lineup becomes its first mass-market 5G iPhone wave across as many as four models, putting carrier 5G plans and component suppliers at the center of the holiday quarter.
- The smaller, cheaper HomePod repositions Apple's speaker from a premium niche toward broader price points, while Apple Tags put it directly into the item-tracking market.
Second-order effects
- Incumbent tracker makers face a native Find-My-integrated competitor, forcing them to differentiate on cross-platform support rather than ecosystem convenience.
- A four-model 5G ramp concentrates supplier volume into one launch window, amplifying any schedule slip — exactly what happened when the September event arrived without iPhones.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, Apple converges its hardware line on a single flat-edge industrial design borrowed from the iPad Pro, making the phone's silhouette a shared brand cue across categories rather than a per-product choice.
- The notch becomes a multi-year incremental teardown — shrunk again in 2021 — showing Apple treats sensor cutouts as a staged engineering problem tied to Face ID hardware, not a spec-sheet checkbox.
The trend: Apple's fall cadence is consolidating around a single 5G iPhone supercycle plus accessory expansion, with design changes amortized across multiple product generations.