Starting next year, Apple plans to launch an iPhone that will be thinner than the roughly 8-millimeter profile of current models, people familiar with the company’s plans said. The model is said to be cheaper than Pro models and has a simplified camera system to reduce costs.

The company is also planning two foldable devices, it said. A larger device intended to serve as a laptop would have a screen that’s almost as large as some desktop monitors at around 19 inches. A smaller model would unfold to a display size larger than an iPhone 16 Pro Max, which is intended to serve as a foldable iPhone, the people said.

Both foldable designs have been in development for years, but some key parts weren’t ready yet. The biggest challenges included improving the hinge, a mechanism that allows the device to fold and unfold, and the display cover, a flexible material that protects the foldable screen.

Foldable phones currently on the market are not thin, light or power efficient enough to meet Apple standards, which is why Apple has been slower to enter the segment, said Jeff Pu, an analyst at Hong Kong-based broker Haitong International Securities.

Apple experimented with other different designs, such as a display on the outside of the device when folded, but now prefers an inward-folding design, people familiar with the devices said.

Although Apple initially wanted to unveil the larger device to gauge market reaction, it now appears that the foldable iPhone will likely be ready soon. Apple executives are pushing for a 2026 release, but the company may need another year to overcome technical challenges, the people said. The ultra-thin phone would offer an alternative for consumers who like a slim-looking device and don’t mind sacrificing some of the features of the Pro models.

An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

The company is committed to finding new ways to accelerate growth. The iPhone business, which still accounts for around half of total revenue, is in a sales decline and its fiscal 2024 revenue growth is less than 1%. The last big wave of sales increases came in 2021, when carriers subsidized iPhone purchases to support their burgeoning 5G network infrastructure.

Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst at TF International Securities, is among the first group of analysts to predict the launch of the new devices. He said Apple executives pushed for the new designs to be available sooner. “I have a feeling things will go according to their plans in the end,” he said.

While the updates don’t represent major breakthroughs – many competitors already make foldable devices – they represent more significant changes in form and function than the company has made in many years. There have been relatively minor updates to Apple’s core product lineup in recent years, including faster chips and better cameras, but these haven’t been enough to encourage users to update their devices at the same pace as in previous years.

The last major iPhone redesign was with the iPhone X, which launched in 2017, said Cliff Maldonado, chief analyst at BayStreet Research, which studies the smartphone market.

For the recently released iPhone 16 series, the company has focused its marketing on Apple Intelligence, its new AI system available on newer iPhone models, rather than hardware upgrades. However, the new AI features are being rolled out slowly and it is not certain that this will be enough to stimulate demand again. Apple Intelligence wasn’t available when the iPhone 16 first launched in September, but later came out in October. The next features, including an integration with OpenAI, arrived on Wednesday.

“It looks like Apple is looking for hardware innovation to drive user upgrades,” Maldonado said. “The iPhone 16 will be the last of the boring aesthetic phones.”

For rivals like Samsung Electronics and Huawei, foldable devices have proven a difficult product to sell. According to market research firm TrendForce, the product has remained largely a niche device and is expected to account for about 1.5% of the total smartphone market this year. According to Counterpoint Research, the foldable smartphone category also saw its first annual shipment decline of 1% in the third quarter, largely due to Samsung’s poor performance with its Galaxy Z Flip 6.

Historically, new hardware designs have been the main drivers of Apple’s revenue growth. Ten years ago, Apple introduced a new phone size with the larger iPhone 6 Plus, triggering a wave of growth for the company.

Apple is also looking for new products outside of the iPhone to grow. Earlier this year, Apple released its first step into a new type of product in nearly a decade, the Vision Pro, a $3,499 virtual reality headset that lets users place digital objects in their physical environment. However, due to its high price, sales of Vision Pro have been slow so far, and third-party app developers haven’t flocked to the platform.

Apple is planning a successor to the Vision Pro, but is not yet sure about the exact next path. One plan is to use the iPhone to power the headset, potentially reducing the device’s cost and reducing its relatively heavy weight, people familiar with the product said. But initial tests show that the iPhone chip alone may not have the processing power needed to run some applications, the people said.

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