Get ready for 3 new glass iPhones (AAPL)

Marques Brownlee

New details about next year's iPhone, which is expected to be a major redesign that would revive sales, trickled out of Japan on Wednesday.

Nikkei reports that Apple's next phone will have a glass cover held together by a metal frame, and that there will be three sizes: the existing 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screens, and a new, never-before-rumored 5-inch version.

"Apple has tentatively decided that all the 5.5-inch, 5-inch and 4.7-inch models will have glass backs, departing from metal casings adopted by current iPhones, and Biel and Lens are likely to be providing all the glass backs for the new iPhones next year," a source told Nikkei.

The report clearly comes from supply chain sources. It includes scuttlebutt about which of Apple's suppliers will end up with the lucrative contracts to supply the glass, screens, and other components of the device.

This report lines up with everything we think we know about Apple's next iPhone, which is a critical device for the company. Some rumors have suggested the device will be pegged to the 10th anniversary of the iPhone and will not be an "S" device.

We've been expecting a new glass iPhone for a while, prompted by comments by Apple's aluminum supplier earlier this year. Apple's head of design, Jony Ive, reportedly wants it to look like "a single sheet of glass."

We're expecting next year's iPhone to possibly have wireless charging, no home button, and a "2.5-D curved" glass screen that eliminates Apple's traditional bezels. Reports have suggested the metal frame could be made out of stainless steel instead of Apple's favorite material, aluminum.

We're early in the iPhone design phase, so Apple's plans could change before next September, when the device is expected to be launched.

Here's everything we think we know about next year's iPhone »

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