They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and although plenty of people seem to like the design of Apple’s latest iPhones, many others are not exactly impressed by that wide notch, square-shaped rear camera protrusion, or even the textured matte glass back and polished stainless steel band combination of the premium Pro models.

iPhone 4 vibes with a modern twist

Apple’s 2020 iPhones are predicted to adopt a boxier look than their predecessors, with a metal frame sporting a “more complex segmentation design, new trenching and injection molding procedures, and sapphire or glass cover assembly to protect the trench injection molding structure.” If that sounds like gibberish to you, it should be enough to pit the iPhone 4 against the 11 and 11 Pro to understand the change Kuo is talking about. 

If you ignore the thicker profile and screen bezels, odds are you’ll find the iPhone 4 still looks better, with an eye-catching piece of premium metal sticking out between front and rear glass panels. It’s not exactly clear how Apple intends to adapt that undeniably exquisite design to the modern smartphone world, but Kuo expects curved glass to continue playing a role in this “significant” new look.

What’s essentially etched in stone is that Apple plans to improve iPhone durability as well, which means the production costs of the revamped metal frame and glass case are likely to increase considerably. Namely, by anywhere between 20 and 50 percent compared to the current bill of materials.

Price hikes seem unavoidable