2020 iPhone will have a Frame Structure Like the iPhone 4

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has some new thoughts on next year’s iPhone models only a few weeks after the new models for 2019 launched. He says that the iPhone for 2020 will be redesigned and will be similar to the iPhone 4. Kuo made the predictions in a research note.

MacRumors says that it has seen the research note and that in it Kuo says that Apple will change its flagship iPhone design significantly in 2020. The new devices will have a metal frame with a more complex segmentation design.

The new iPhone will also use new trenching and injection molding procedures according to Kuo. He says that the 2020 iPhone models will use either sapphire or glass cover assemblies to protect the trench injection molding.

For those who don’t recall, the iPhone 4 used an aluminum frame that was sandwiched between two panes of glass and introduced most to smartphones that could have a shattered front and back glass. Kuo notes that the cost of the new frame could increase as much as 60%. Any cost increase will undoubtedly be passed on to the consumer as Apple loves its margins.