Slow hardware? You sir, have been horribly misled. My Lumia 1020 never stutters or lags, runs like a dream. What you're referring to is the long-ish Pro Camera app (now Nokia Camera) startup time, and the few seconds between successive shots. That's because loading such a whopping camera has got to take its toll on the processor, especially since it's saving both a 5MP oversampled and a 38MP photo at the exact same time.
Otherwise, this thing runs like lightning and runs buttery smooth. And now that Nokia SmartCam + Pro Cam are combined into one app (Nokia Camera), you can easily switch between the two, so you can use SmartCam's features to take many fast, rapid and successive shots (you just can't go back and rezoom later). SmartCam is for the fast things in life, Pro Cam is for anything standing still where you're going to be manually adjusting the settings to get the perfect shot.
So please, don't be misled, the Lumia 1020 is a fast little thing. Also, consider this: Yes, a newer model will likely come out next year, with beefed up specs, that will help combat the latency between startup and shot-to-shot. However, in the meantime, think about all the great shots, moments in life you'll be missing. It's as the saying goes, "The best camera is the one you have with you." Life won't care that you're waiting for next best model. Life is always in motion, and the next great technological revolution is always just around the corner.
I'd recommend just buying a Lumia 1020 now, you won't regret it. Always putting things off because you're waiting for what's next is no way to live. Treat yourself and buy the awesome Lumia 1020, and take some beautiful pictures along the way.