Nearly everyone who watches Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), from consumers to shareholders, assumes that its latest quarterly results demonstrate that the company’s rapid growth period has ended. That may not be true, if Apple can introduce a new series of revolutionary products that almost certainly will be led by the iPhone 7.

The quarter was stunningly poor. Revenue rose from $74.6 billion in the same period last year to $75.9 billion. The net profit numbers were just as depressing. Net income for the latest quarter was $18.4 billion, compared to $18.0 billion the year before. For the current quarter, revenue will post in the $50 billion to $53 billion range.

The two most important numbers in the earnings report were iPhone sales of 74.5 million and Greater China sales that rose only 14% from the same quarter a year ago to $18.4 billion. Hardly the engine of growth CEO Tim Cook has boasted about for years.

Sales of the iPhone 6 family likely will remain flat, at best, over the first half of calendar 2016.

The latest version of the iPhone family is the iPhone 6s, introduced last September. Over the first weekend it was available, Apple sold 13 million units. Apple’s marketing campaign for the iPhone 6s is that “The Only Thing That’s Changed Is Everything.” Clearly, buyers of smartphones do not believe that. The only thing that has changed is slowing sales.

Apple’s growth might be jump-started by Apple TV, which has hardy competition from Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and every traditional video medium from television networks to cable TV and satellite television. The field becomes more crowed by the day. Apple’s product is not differentiated enough to take any significant market share.

The iPhone 7, which probably will be introduced in the fall, may be the most revolutionary smartphone since the original iPhone was released in 2007. Upgrades in smartphone features have been modest for the past several years. Apple will need to break that cycle to rekindle optimism about its future.

The iPhone 7 will have to have the following, at least: A waterproof case. A still camera and video camera that make the highest end standalone cameras and video players obsolete. In other words, it will have to destroy two other successful consumer electronics business. Siri will need to decipher and handle any voice request, no matter how garbled and difficult. The iPhone 7 will need to be as thin as a piece of paper, with the capacity to be rolled like a dollar bill can be. The phone will need to be indestructible. The A9 chip will need to be replaced by one as powerful as the Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) i7 processor. And the iPhone 7 will need to have storage capacity as good as that of a high-end laptop.

If the iPhone 7 can add those features, Apple will be fine.

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