The 4-inch iPhone is supposedly dubbed the iPhone 5se (special edition) and will combine the hardware guts of the iPhone 6 (including Apple Pay) with a modified body that is still more reminiscent of the iPhone 5s than the iPhone 6 and 6s. As for the iPad Air 3, it'll keep the 9.7-inch screen the line is known for but may borrow some tricks from the iPad Pro, including its speaker arrangement and Apple Pencil support.

It sounds like these products will launch without the typical pre-order period that Apple typically offers, which is a little bit unusual for the company. But these products will certainly launch with less hype and fanfare than the flagship iPhones typically do, so perhaps the company doesn't expect sales to be so overwhelming as to warrant a preorder period. Regardless of those plans, mid-March is coming up fast -- Apple should be sending out invites for this event very soon if it's going to happen.