Edible Apple

The iPhone 4S is flying off the shelves faster than Apple can manufacture them. A quick perusal of Sprint’s website shows that they’re already sold out of the 16 and 32GB models while all iPhone 4S models on Verizon’s website now show a shipping date of October 28th.

Clearly, the iPhone 4S is an immediate hit.

But if you recall the weeks leading up to the iPhone 4S event there was a good deal of speculation regarding an alleged new iPhone form factor with a larger screen and a teardrop design. That product obviously was never announced though new reports claim that such a product is in the pipeline and may represent Steve Jobs’ final product designed in his lifetime.

CNET relays a quote from Rodman & Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar who writes that the iPhone 5 marks “the last project that Steve Jobs was intimately involved with from concept to final design.”

Described as a large project with a complete re-design, the iPhone 5 device will reportedly maintain the iPhone 4S form factor, albeit with a larger edge to edge screen. It’s also believed that Apple’s next-gen iPhone will support 4G.

And citing another source, the CNET report further claims that Steve Jobs spent the bulk of his final months at Apple working on designs and features related to the iPhone 5. Knowing that his time was limited, Jobs reportedly wasn’t all that involved with the iPhone 4S and instead wanted to focus his energies on what promises to be a significant iPhone upgrade – in terms of both hardware and software – this coming Summer.