iPhone 12: Apple to launch four new handsets, updated iPads, Watch and new HomePod, claims report

Apple Senior VP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller speaks about the iPhone 11 Pro during the Apple Special Event in the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park in Cupertino, California, USA (EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO)

Apple is planning to launch four new iPhones alongside a host of other products, a new report has claimed.

The next couple of months will see the launch of new handsets alongside updated iPads, Apple Watches, HomePods and new headphones, according to a new report from Bloomberg, which has a strong track record of revealing Apple's future product plans.

The three new iPhones will include a major design revision that will give them a similar look to the iPad Pro, with squared edges. The company will also launch a new colour, the report claimed, swapping the current dark green for a blue.

But perhaps the largest change is the addition of a whole new phone to the current line-up. At the moment, Apple makes the iPhone 11 Pro in two sizes and the cheaper iPhone 11 in just one, but it is expected to offer both handsets in two sizes.

The Pro models are expected to launch later than the lower-end and cheaper handsets, as they did when Apple first launched the current strategy with the iPhone X. It will be the latest release schedule since that phone was released, in November 2017, Bloomberg reported.

Apple has already said that its phones will be delayed by a "few weeks" because of coronavirus outbreaks. Its software is still on track to launch in September, as usually scheduled, Bloomberg reported.

Though the new phones are yet to receive a name, reports have repeatedly referred to them as the iPhone 12. Apple will presumably keep the Pro branding for the two more expensive of the handsets.

It is the larger of those two Pro models – which will have a 6.7-inch display – that will receive the most notable of the upgrades. It will get the same LiDAR scanner found on the recent iPad Pro, Bloomberg reported, as well as other changes that will give it the most significant improvements.

Apple is also planning to release a new iPad in the coming months, Bloomberg reported. The new Air will include a display that goes right across the display, it said, in the same way as the current iPad Pro.

Apple is also planning an updated version of the Apple Watch, headphones that will be part of the AirPods line but sit on the ear, and a smaller and cheaper version of the HomePod. The company is also still planning its AirTags tracking devices and an updated version of the Apple TV that might not ship until next year, Bloomberg reported.