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
Context & Ripple Effects
This April 2020 report laid out Apple's fall roadmap before any of it shipped: an iPad Pro-like flat-edge redesign with a smaller notch for iPhones, a smaller and cheaper HomePod, and Apple Tags for item tracking. It mattered because it was the first sourced look at how far Apple planned to push its iPad Pro industrial design down into the phone line.
The arc since then validates most of it: by September, Apple was reported building roughly 75M 5G iPhones alongside a smaller HomePod, and the notch-shrink reappeared as a theme in 2021's iPhone update — making this report the origin point of a multi-year design cadence rather than a one-off leak.
First-order effects
- iPhone buyers get the iPad Pro's flat-edge design language and a smaller notch in the fall lineup, while the HomePod line gains a cheaper entry point below the original speaker.
- Apple Tags put Apple directly into the item-tracking accessory category for the first time, sold alongside the iPhone ecosystem it depends on.
Second-order effects
- A cheaper HomePod forces the smart-speaker line to compete on price rather than sound quality alone, widening the audience Apple's voice platform reaches.
- The September event detailed in related coverage shipped Watches and an iPad Air but no new iPhones, decoupling the iPhone launch from Apple's traditional fall-event slot even as production ramped.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, Apple converges its entire hardware family on one flat-edge design idiom while iterating the notch down over successive years — incremental annual refinement replacing dramatic redesigns as the default rhythm.
- Cheaper entry points at the edges of the lineup (smaller HomePod, Tags) point to Apple monetizing accessories and ecosystem attach rather than relying solely on flagship device margins.
The trend: Apple is unifying its hardware design language around the iPad Pro's flat-edge aesthetic while pushing cheaper devices into the lineup's edges, turning annual leaks into a predictable multi-year cadence.