Many have wondered how Steve Jobs’ passing might affect the next generation of Apple products. Fortunately, if a new report from Bloomberg is to be believed, those worries can be put to rest, at least as far as the next iPhone is concerned, as Steve Jobs was reportedly intimately involved in the design for Apple’s next-gen device (mockup below via iMore).
Apple, based in Cupertino, California, has placed orders from suppliers in Asia for screens that are bigger than the 3.5- inch size now on the smartphone, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had worked closely on the redesigned phone before his death in October, one person said. […]
Apple has been working on the new device since before the current iPhone 4S model was introduced last October, said one person with knowledge of the project. Jobs, who had gone on medical leave from Apple starting last January, played a key role in developing the phone…
Also of note is that the report claims that Apple’s next iPhone will have a larger screen, making Bloomberg the third major publication to make such a claim, after Reuters and The Wall Street Journal. That sounds more like a controlled leak than practically any such series of claims I’ve ever heard!
Previous reports have claimed that Jobs planned out four years of future products before his passing. While that may seem like a bit of a while claim, it seems very likely that Steve Jobs did offer direct input at least on the projects that Apple had in mind before his passing.
Even if Steve Jobs didn’t offer direct input on the design of the next iPhone (or any future Apple products), however, he did spend years shaping Apple’s high-level executives to think and design in a certain way. As long as Tim Cook, Jony Ive, Phil Schiller and the gang are still around, you can bet that Steve Jobs’ influence in Apple future products will persist for a good long time.