iPhone 5/6 – Top Priority Project for Steve Jobs?

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Apple “only” launched the iPhone 4S this year, a device similar to its predecessor when it comes to looks but a lot better when it comes to wits and capabilities. Some people were sorry to see that the highly anticipated iPhone 5 was not unveiled during Apple’s iPhone event, but at least 1 million customers were more than happy to see the company finally launch the fifth-generation iPhone.

Apple announced a new record first-day pre-order sales for the iPhone 4S earlier this week and since the handset started selling on Friday, AT&T and Sprint announced activations and sales records of their own, not to mention that Apple’s stock went all the way to $422, an all-time new high for the company, following the iPhone 4S launch.

The iOS 5 Siri-enabled device is a success despite its looks, which makes the following rumor all the more interesting. CNET reports that the iPhone 4S was not the main focus of a Steve Jobs that knew his time on this earth was short. The iconic Apple leader focused his last efforts on the upcoming iPhone model, the iPhone 5 or iPhone 6, the major redesign some people were looking forward to.

A source with knowledge of the matter said:

[The next iPhone is a] complete redesign. This is a very large project that Steve dedicated all of his time to. He was not that involved in the 4S because his time was limited.

The sixth-generation iPhone is expected to be launched in summer 2012, at some point after Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference according to an analyst. Ashok Kumar from Rodman & Renshaw also seems to believe Jobs’ latest major project was the next-gen iPhone:

[The next iPhone] was the last project that Steve Jobs was intimately involved with from concept to final design. For that reason…this product will establish the high water mark for iPhone volumes.

The device is expected to have a slimmer profile and a bigger display, which sounds awfully similar to what we heard about the iPhone 5 before Apple’s media event. The device will also offer 4G LTE support, which seems more than logical considering that all three U.S. carriers currently carrying the handset are going to further develop their LTE infrastructure by next year. And international carriers are probably going to speed up LTE adoption too in the following year.

I’m not surprised to hear that Steve Jobs may have been working on Apple’s upcoming generation of devices. In fact, according to a recent report the former CEO laid out an actual product plan for the following years to keep Apple going even after his death. But it may be too early to analyze iPhone 6 rumors – and by the way, since the 2012 model is going to be a sixth-generation iPhone, I don’t think the “iPhone 5” moniker is relevant anymore. We should be calling this baby the “iPhone 6″ or “iPhone LTE”.

On the same note, and considering the growing popularity of the iPhone 4S – and the device should sell like hot cakes this holiday season too – it would be pretty surprising to see Apple launch the iPhone 6 in summer 2012 instead of fall 2012. After all the iPhone 4 is still a hot product even 14 months after launch, something Apple’s upcoming quarterly report will probably confirm, so its successor should offer at least a similar performance.

With all that in mind let us know what your next-gen iPhone should feature?