Apple is about to hold ‘the most significant iPhone event in years’

Apple is holding a launch event where it will reveal this year’s iPhone lineup with the first major exterior redesign since 2017 on Tuesday.

Still, this year’s iPhone launch is significant. It is expected to include the first major exterior redesign since 2017, when Apple released the iPhone X with facial recognition.

This year’s models will feature iPad-like edges with flatter sides, compared with the gently curving sides of the current iPhones.

In most years, Apple announces its iPhones in September, and they go on sale shortly after that. This year is different. Apple instead released new Apple Watches last month and pushed the iPhone announcement to October. The delay is an outgrowth of the Covid-19 pandemic, which disrupted electronics manufacturing and forced most Apple employees to work from home.

Apple is also expected to release four separate iPhones at different screen sizes and prices — a much wider range of devices than in the past.

Finally, at least some new iPhones will support 5G cellular networks, which promise faster download times (although the networks aren’t fully built out yet in the U.S., which could disappoint some users.)