Rarely does Apple Inc. fail to live up to expectations. When it didn't unveil the iPhone 5 at a developers' conference in June, the rumor mill on a fifth-generation iPhone being released in the following months kept churning. The result: Apple reported underwhelming results for its most recent quarter, as many postponed phone purchases in anticipation of an iPhone 5.

New CEO Tim Cook on Oct. 4 finally unveiled a new device, the iPhone 4S, which was met with lukewarm reaction due to its lack of a whole new design. But the faster processor, upgraded camera and Siri voice navigation system, catapulted Apple to a record launch of 4 million units sold on the first three days.

The iPhone 5 should be a bigger hit and will become a "cult classic" as this is the last revolutionary device helmed by the late Steve Jobs.

According to CNET, Ashok Kumar, an analyst at Rodman & Renshaw, wrote in a research note that the next-generation iPhone "was the last project that Steve Jobs was intimately involved with from concept to final design."

With news that Jobs had his fingerprints all over the next iPhone, speculations should again reach extreme highs, and Cook will be under pressure to deliver.

With the iPhone 5 still in the pipeline, here are the top 10 rumored features of the iPhone 5:

10. Release Date. With the success of the iPhone 4S, the 15-month wait for the fifth generation iPhone will be extended by four to 12 months. There are speculations about a January release date. If ever this materializes, Apple will be up for bad PR -- fanboys who lined up for the iPhone 4S will find their phones obsolete after just three months and those who paid $650 for an unlocked phone or who signed two-year contracts will probably do an "Occupy Wall Street" outside the Apple headquarters. A March release date also does not work as the iPhone 5 would probably cannibalize on iPad 3 sales if both are released simultaneously.

Returning to the tradition of unveiling an iPhone at the June annual developers' conference would make sense. Releasing an iPhone 5 beyond June would allow Android phones with bigger screens and 4G LTE technology to gain ground.

9. Samsung-Made Parts. Apple has sued Samsung on three continents on accusations that Samsung's Galaxy tablets and smartphones are slavishly imitating the design and functionality of the iPad and iPhone. Samsung has countered by filing suits seeking a ban of the iPhone 4S on grounds that the phone infringes on Samsung's wireless patents. Apple was expected to be making changes to its supply chain due to the dispute. But Korea Times, citing industry sources, say Apple is in talks with Samsung to have it build a next-generation quad-core "A6" processor. The A6 CPU is expected to utilize Samsung's 28-nanometer processing technology.

8. Quad-core processors. The iPhone 4 has a single core A4 processor, while the iPhone 4S has a dual core A5 processor. According to GSM Press, a source says Samsung is already working on the Samsung Galaxy S III, which would have a 2 GHz quad-core processor. Apple can't just take advantage of Siri forever to compete with rivals when rivals already have phones that are as powerful as PCs.

7. 4G LTE Connectivity. The Motorola Droid RAZR, the Galaxy S2 and other Android phones are already 4G LTE-capable. "Apple is saving the iPhone 5 brand for the LTE version, and the new model won't arrive until the 4G LTE technology is ready to be used in smartphones, which won't be out until next spring," Will Strauss, president of market research firm Forward Concepts told CNET. There have been reports that Apple was testing LTE but was unhappy with the first generation LTE chipsets from Qualcomm, which chipsets would make phones bulkier.

6. NCF Chips. Apple will include Near Field Communication in the iPhone 5. Google has just announced that it has signed deals with Visa, Mastercard and others for NCF readers at stores. More people will flock to Android devices for Google Wallet if the iPhone 5 can't be a virtual wallet.

5. Teardrop or curved screen. The iPhone 5 will have the external design changes fans have been looking for in this year's new iPhone. Samsung's Galaxy Nexus has 4.65-inch of screen with curved glass. An iPhone with a curved glass design makes sense for ergonomics purposes. Digitimes, citing sources in the glass industry, says Apple's design team is working on a new iOS device with a curved glass screen. Boy Genius Report months before had a report that the iPhone 5 that will be released this year will have a teardrop design. Although BGR and others never predicted the release date, BGR's prediction that "iPhone 5 will have radical changes" has not been proved wrong after Apple only unveiled the iPhone 4S this month.

4. No home buttons and slimmer profile. The iPhone 5 is expected to have a complete redesign. The iPhone 5 is expected to come with an aluminum plate casing rather than the current glass backing. As to the home-button, Jobs removed the keyboard, so it's not surprising that the iPhone 5 won't have the home-button. As to the thickness, the RAZR is only 7.1 mm thick -- will Apple follow suit?

3. At least 4 inches of display. It is expected that iPhone 5 will have a larger edge-to-edge display possibly with 3.7-inch to 4.3-inch screen. Samsung, HTC, and Motorola have launched new smartphones with 4.3-inch screens. If CEO Tim Cook keeps the iPhone's 3.5-inch screen, he'll be hearing "too small" criticisms every day. Apple knows how to challenge boundaries, so a massive display on an iPhone is not impossible.

2. Merged platform. Each new iPhone launched in the market comes with new software. Aside from the radical new design, the iPhone 5 needs the 200 new features from a new OS in order to entice Apple users to upgrade or Android users to switch. By the time iPhone 5 is available, Microsoft Corp. will already have Windows 8, a new operating system designed to work not only for personal computers but also for smartphones and tablets. The Mac OS X Lion launched together with the new MacBook Air laptops in August incorporated many developments made in Apple's iOS. This indicates that Apple could go Microsoft way and possibly merge the platforms for its mobile devices and PCs. Apple's iCloud infrastructure would function perfectly with a common platform.

1. Dual-LED flash camera. People were expecting an iPhone 5 that would have an advanced 8-megapixel this year. Apple only launched iPhone 4S and it came with an 8-megapixel LED flash camera and a secondary VGA one for video chat. The iPhone 5 should have an upgraded camera, possibly at least a 12-megapixel. The iPhone 5 is expected to have a dual-LED flash and the flash unit will be separated from the camera sensor. The front-facing camera should at least have 2-megapixels rather than the archaic VGA.