iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 “were designed before Jobs died”

The next two iPhones – which most expect to be the iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 – were designed before Steve Jobs died in 2011, the company has revealed.

The next two generations of iPhone are already developed, according to a report in the San Francisco Examiner, which describes a meeting between Apple’s government liaison Michael Foulke and local district attorney George Gascón.

Gascón met with Foulke to discuss adding more security measures to iPhones, such as a kill switch, to try to cut down on thefts. The iPhone is involved in half of all thefts in the city, the report said.

Foulke said such measures couldn’t be added in the next two generations of the iPhone because they were already designed. “They preceded Tim Cook,” Gascón was told.

While a three year pipeline may sound long for an established handset, that’s inline with industry standards, according to Asymco analyst Horace Dediu. “Having worked in a phone company, I think it’s a given,” he was quoted in The Guardian as saying. “Work under way now is for products shipping in 2016.”

The news will likely be a boost for Apple. The firm’s share price has slid over the past year, with many analysts wondering what will happen as Jobs’ influence on device design fades.

Cook has previously stressed that the key to Apple’s success is in long-term planning. “What we are focused on is the long term. This has always been a secret of Apple,” he said in February.