It seems that for many people, the iPhone 5 is a disappointment - so what's missing? We asked for your suggestions and scoured the online reviews, and the results are below. It's your ultimate iPhone 6 (or iPhone 5S, if Apple's next iPhone is so named) wishlist.

Blogger Ed Valdez cites six reasons why we can expect an iPhone 6 announcement by June 2013 - a mere nine months after the iPhone 5. But it's still likely there will be an iPhone 5S instead.

iPhone 6: design

Many of you weren't sold on the iPhone 5's design. For some of you the taller screen was odd - it "looks strange at best," said nebulaoperator - and for others it simply wasn't big enough.

Lions87a reckons even 4.5 inches would be too little: "popular phones like the Galaxy S2 and S3 have shown that people are pretty happy nowadays to accept bigger than what the iPhone 5 is currently offering."

Writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, influential tech journalist Andy Ihnatko suggests that taller isn't necessarily better. "The benefit of bigger screens is almost entirely in their increased width, not their length," he writes.

"A wider keyboard is easier to type on. Books, web pages, and emails will have wider margins and they'll be more comfortable to read."

John Gruber of Daring Fireball agrees that bigger isn't always better, but he's not a fan of wider, either: while he says that "navigating the full screen while holding the iPhone in one hand is worse," rivals' wider screens mean it "really is far more difficult to do anything on them one-handed, including typing."

A new set of patents filed by Apple, that we outlined on 15 October 2012, suggest that the iPhone 6 design might hide external-facing components such as the camera and flash from view using a polymer-dispersed liquid crystal window which can change opacity on demand.

The question at the moment is whether Apple's next-generation iPhone will be beaten to the punch by the new Samsung Galaxy S4 which could even debut at Mobile World Congress in February.

iPhone 6: processor

No surprises here: we had plenty of people telling us that rival firms' processors have more cores. However, as Lions87a pointed out, "If the iPhone 5 or Nokia 920 can run their OS without any lag or delay, and delivers a flawless experience, and the Galaxy S3 does the same with a quad-core, then the number of cores, and the speed of the cores is irrelevant. The argument turns into 'which operating system is best?'"

Did someone say operating system?

iPhone 6: operating system

iOS has been around for a while, and for many it's getting stale. "I don't think anyone can deny that the

UI needs a refresh when you see widgets and live tiles on competitors' phones," says Vincennes, while Tubemonkey2000 says that "the current [UI] is so tired and old it makes it seem really basic, sort of like a kids' toy."

Our own Gareth Beavis agrees, arguing that "there are so many tweaks Apple could make to its OS to turn it into more of a powerhouse – icons that update with information, or extending the widgets in the notification bar beyond weather and stocks... Apple is taking things very slowly on this front."

iPhone 6: price

iPhones have never been cheap, but in a world of credible - and cheaper - competition they look pricier than ever. Or maybe it's because the iPhone's price has gone up. Saltire is "surprised no-one has mentioned the price increase for the 16GB model", while Gareth Beavis says that "we simply cannot see how a 16GB model can cost £529 / $199, but to double the memory will cost an extra £70/ $100 with no other changes to the design."

There's no doubt that you pay more for the materials, fit and finish of an iPhone than you do for, say, a plasticky Android handset, and not everyone thinks that's worth it.

"£529 for a phone that is no better than my six month old Android shows the arrogance of Apple," Alastairmack says, while Beavis points out that when you consider contracts, "it's far and away the most expensive in the shop, and most of the time you don't even get unlimited data."

iPhone 6: features

NFC has, possibly unfairly, been dubbed "Not For Commerce" (or more saltily, "No Effing Customers"), but for many it's the most obvious omission from the iPhone 5 - "not because of the technology itself," says Fmartins, "but to really give the critical mass contactless payments need. Plus, I would love to use the phone as my Oyster card."

For Fmartins, that would be good for everyone: while s/he isn't an iPhone fan, "it would have been nice seeing Apple push the envelope again so that I could benefit on [a] Lumia down the line." Gareth Beavis agrees. "It's not quite there yet in terms of market penetration for payments, but the world's largest network of accessories could definitely have made use of it for making ever cooler docks and cases," he says.

UPDATE: On 3 October, we reported that Apple is looking at Australian fingerprint technology for NFC mobile payments, so it seems that NFC could arrive with the iPhone 6.

Other suggestions included more LTE bands, which we're sure we'll get next year when other UK 4G networks launch; expandable storage - not something we imagine Apple doing when it can flog you iTunes Match and/or get you to pay a small fortune for the 32GB model over the 16GB - and brighter, more saturated screens, although given the improvements to the iPhone 5's screen that one's largely a personal preference. Oh, and of course you'd like Apple to fix Maps too.

iPhone 6: reception

No, not antennas - they seem fine this time - but the critical reception. As Lusky79 says, even without cock-ups such as Maps, any new iPhone is going to be disappointing: "Even if Apple had all the suggestions [here], it would still seem mediocre because the revolution was the original iPhone and the other, similar, smartphones that followed." As Nenslo put it: "What the iPhone really needs is Steve Jobs."

Anything else?

Hit the comments to add your wishes for the next iPhone.

The ZTE Apache could touch down as the first eight-core smartphone next year, if rumours are to be believed.

According to Chinese site China Times, ZTE has teamed up with MediaTek to launch a flagship, octo-core device, currently going by the military name Apache.

On top of that ridiculous processor, the report also suggests the phone will sport a full HD display, snappy 13MP camera and 4G connectivity.

In a spin

Last week we heard that Samsung was planning on unveiling its own octo-core processor early next year, which could potentially land in its flagship devices later on – Samsung Galaxy S4 or Samsung Galaxy Note 3 anyone?

If this latest report is true, then ZTE is about to steal Samsung's limelight by beating the Korean firm to it with the aforementioned Apache – although China Times is a pretty hit and miss source of hardware rumours and hasn't explicitly stated where it got its Apache-based intel, so we're not holding out a huge amount of hope at the moment.

We'll be keeping an eye out for the ridiculously over-powered handset at CES 2013 and MWC 2013, just in case it makes a sneak appearance.

We're waiting to hear back from ZTE regarding the Apache handset, although the Chinese firm is unlikely to comment on speculation.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has sold more than 5 million units worldwide, selling 2 million in the last month.

At the beginning of this month, the Korean mobile maker announced the device had sold 3 million units. The Note 2 has been on sale for five months, and originally hit UK shelves on October 1. It only made its way stateside a month ago, which might well account for the recent sales spike.

Samsung made the announcement on its Korean website. (Here it is translated into English.)

This doesn't mean 5 million people are using the Galaxy Note 2, though. Rather, Samsung is counting sales to retailers. In other words, more than 5 million devices have shipped to go on sale, with some of them sold, some of them still on the shelves. But still, it shows the demand is there.

Eclipsed by the S3

While 5 million is impressive, it's a fraction of the 30 million sales the Galaxy S3 has notched up. But then the S3 has been on sale longer, and has a smaller screen (4.8-inches to the Note 2's 5.5-inches).

Indeed, many thought the original Note wouldn't sell, being too big to be a phone, and too small to use as a tablet. Instead, it's spearheaded a whole new category of device, known as the 'phablet'. HTC is rumoured to be readying a UK equivalent of its 5-inch J Butterfly (as it's known in Japan) and Droid DNA (as it's called in the USA) to compete with the Note 2.

Via Samsung

HTC has announced on its Facebook page that the HTC Deluxe won't come to Europe.

Before everyone gets up in arms about the supposed cancellation though, it is most likely the handset will arrive on these shores, just under a different name.

The Deluxe is the handset that's leaked a few times now. It's said to be the European name for the HTC J Butterfly (in Japan) and the HTC Droid DNA (in the USA). So whichever name it goes under, it should have a 5-inch 1080p screen, 2GB of RAM, and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. A rose by any other name…

HTC was responding to a fan who posted a link to Friday's leak that saw pictures of the Deluxe in three colour variants.

The response translates as: "the Deluxe unfortunately will not come to Europe."

Deluxe denial

It's unusual for HTC to make an outright denial like this. Usually - like most companies - it would just say it doesn't comment on rumour or speculation. So maybe it wants to let us know the Deluxe definitely isn't what the handset will be called.

The Deluxe looks like a real challenger to the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. It's slightly smaller than the Note 2, with a 5-inch screen, but will easily dwarf the likes of the iPhone 5.

When these pictures leaked on Friday, we heard an official announcement was scheduled for December 6. So hopefully we should know for certain then.

What do you think the Deluxe will be called? Let us know.