This is according to the ex-Engadget crew at the new “This my Next” website, who whipped up the mockup above to illustrate the various rumors they’re hearing.

Apple may be prototyping an iPhone 5 with a tapered design, a larger 3.7-inch screen and a gesture-sensitive Home Button.

• New design: Apple is testing several prototypes (we all know this) and one of the leading candidates for the iPhone 5 is thinner than the current iPhone 4 and looks “more like the iPod touch.” It has a teardrop shape – thinner at the bottom than the top, like the new MacBook Air.
• Gesture-sensitive Home Button: The Home Button will be bigger and will understand a gestures. “Our sources say that gestures are definitely coming in a future version of iOS,” says
• Larger screen: the screen will go up to 3.7-inches, not 4-inches as rumored. It will keep the current resolution, dropping pixel density goes from 326 to 312, but will still be a Retina Display (it’s still above 300ppi).
• No Bezel: Screen will be edge-to-edge, occupying the entire front of the iPhone. That means no bezel (or almost no bezel).
• Hidden earpiece & mouthpiece: The earpiece and sensors are behind the screen itself.
• Inductive charging: It may or may not have wireless inductive charging. Crystal ball is cloudy.
• NFC: Likewise it may or may not have NFC.
• Global radio chips: It’ll be based on Qualcomm’s dual GSM/CDMA Gobi chipset, which means it’ll work on a ton of GSM and CDMA networks worldwide, most importantly in China.

Joshua Topolsky warns, however, that none of this is set in stone: “Keep in mind that this info isn’t fact — we’re getting lots of threads from lots of places and trying to make sense of the noise. The versions of devices our sources are seeing could be design prototypes and not production-ready phones. Still, there are strong indications that Apple will surprise a public that’s expecting a bump more along the lines of the 3G to 3GS — and this is some insight into where those designs might be headed.”

Keep you update as more news come from around the web.

Word that Apple may not release the iPhone 5 as early as expected prompted some observers to talk of a “delay.” Naturally, Wall Street’s sensitive rumor tripwire went into action, the result the start of analysts downgrading estimates for the iPhone.

Piper Jeffries’ Peter Misek Wednesday morning shaved four percent from his fiscal year 2011 revenue projection, telling investors he expects the Cupertino, Calif. company to rake in $103 billion, rather than his previously estimated $106.9 billion. The fiscal year ends September. More dramatic is the analyst’s double-digit refiguring of iPhone shipments.

Misek sliced 8 percent from his fiscal year iPhone shipments to 65.7 million units, down from his previous 71.7 million estimate. This translates to a 15 percent cut for the June and September financial quarters.

Additionally, the analyst now believes iPhone shipments for fiscal 2012 will be down 6 percent to 89.1 million units, lower than Misek’s 94.9 million units previously forecast.

Monday word came that Apple would not release the iPhone at the upcoming developer’s conference set for June. Traditionally, Apple unveils a new iPhone during this period. However, in announcing this year’s WWDC, Apple said the conference would be a preview of “the future of iOS and Mac OS X.” Instead, Apple likely will introduce its cloud-based data locker, as well as the updated iOS.

Will we see more analysts view the out-of-sync product announcements as a sign of a slowdown for Apple and push the iPhone maker to rush the iPhone 5 release? Will second quarter numbers expected in April reassure the market? Will consumers ignore Wall Street’s worries? Tune in for the next exciting chapter of As the iPhone Turns.

It’s easy to understand why Apple and Verizon jumped the gun now, instead of simply waiting for the iPhone 5 era. Apple wants to keep Verizon customers from losing their patience and buying into the Droid platform instead. Verizon wants to keep its customers from losing their patience and bailing for AT&T. So the two companies have cut a corner with a mid period Verizon iPhone which gets them both in the game half a year earlier than they otherwise would. But just wait until next month’s Verizon iPhone 4 buyers get to summer and learn that A) a new Verizon iPhone 5 has just been announced, and B) they’re not even eligible to buy it at street price because they just bought their last phone too recently. And you know what? If those folks feel burned or surprised when that happens, they’ll only have themselves to blame.

An eight year old with access to wikipedia can figure out that the iPhone 5 is most likely coming this summer. Heck, anyone who can count up the four iPhone generations on their fingers can see that each iPhone generation has always been good for a year, and that the iPhone 4 has already been around for half that. Ultimately, many or most people who buy the Verizon iPhone 4 will conclude that it was their own fault for not doing any semblance of basic homework before making their purchase. And many others may not care about a subsequent Verizon iPhone 5 launch at all. After all, the arrival of a new generation doesn’t mean the old generation suddenly stops working as well. And it’s also very likely that even once the Verizon iPhone 5 launches, the existing Verizon iPhone 4 will stick around as the new sub-$100 iPhone model on the Verizon side of the fence. From that standpoint the Verizon iPhone 4 won’t likely be discontinued until mid 2012.