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Comment by ugh | Hacker News Reader

And what exactly were those people wanting?

I'd say they were expecting the iPhone 5 because Apple did not upgrade the iPhone 4 in the summer like they did with the iPhone 3G and also because iOS 5 was already announced.

Now about what would they expect from the iPhone 5, that's more complicated. Look, they created an amazing smartphone out of nowhere, then they did the iPad and then they even did the cheaper MacBook Air. I guess people could be expecting something really new again. Can't say it was a smart decision to expect it because iOS 5 is pretty much the same thing but still...

So, now we can all expect an iPhone 5 coming next year by this time but what can they do while keeping iOS 5 around?

I don’t understand you. Are you suggesting that Apple should ditch iOS?

Ditch? No, it's a success! What I am saying it that smartphones probably won't change much its hardware format for some more years (with just tiny differences) so if I had to guess I'd say software is pretty much everything on this race in the medium term.

So, back to my iPhone roadmap, I can't see Apple releasing iOS 6 just after one year so iPhone 5, to be released in 2012, will still feature iOS 5 thus there won't be magical changes (the ones I was talking about on my previous post). Either Apple do something amazing hardware-wise or they hurry iOS 6 to be a major update to the platform in 2012 already.

My guess is a 'new device'. If the only difference between that and the iPhone 4S is a larger screen and designed exterior, then so be it.

I think many just wanted a pretty new piece of hardware that looks different (‘better’) than the current form factor.

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