#New leaks suggest Apple’s next iPhone to feature iPad-inspired design

Images purporting to be of the molds that case-makers use to create their designs have leaked onto Twitter, and indicate that Apple is cribbing a number of design elements from its premium tablet.

Gone are the rounded edges that the iPhone has sported for the past several years, replaced instead by iPad Pro-style flat edges that harkens back to the design of Apple’s mega-popular iPhone 4 line.

The return to a more box-like design would mark the first time since 2013’s iPhone 5S that a flagship Apple phone does not have rounded edges. The Cupertino, Calif-based company kept the design for its budget iPhone SE line, but recently scrapped it with its latest version of the phone.

The next iPhones are rumored to have 5G hardware, which will allow them to access a network that promises faster internet and quicker response times than LTE.

In April, reports emerged that Apple was delaying the production ramp-up for the new phones as the coronavirus pandemic weakened global consumer demand and threw a wrench into its manufacturing operations across Asia.

Apple traditionally needs to send engineers back and forth from its offices to its factories in China to finalize designs in the lead-up to the product’s release. But the coronavirus has led Apple to restrict employee travel to hotbeds of the disease, including China.