Summary
- Apple’s iPhone colors have become overly safe or outright dull, loaded mostly with blacks, whites, silvers, and pastels.
- The company should do better, since a smartphone is one of the most personal devices anyone can own. Buyers love customization.
- Apple might be able to take a harder swing with the iPhone 18 lineup if it’s not overwhelmed by the number of models and configurations it needs.
Color is, admittedly, one of the least important things to consider when buying an iPhone. In the early days of smartphones, you were lucky to get any color options at all. Most devices were black or silver — it was somehow a huge deal when the iPhone 3G had a white option. The point is that if a phone was otherwise perfect, I’d still buy it if the only color available was black. My goal is to run the apps I want, and shoot the photos and video I want, much like people buying a Model T in the 1900s simply wanted an affordable way to get to work and back.
Recently, a leak revealed the colors we can expect for the iPhone 17, including an unusual orange/copper option. I’m not satisfied, though. It’s high time Apple put a little more thought into its palette. It might be too late to do anything about the iPhone 17 short of a spring refresh, but Apple could certainly make more elaborate plans for the iPhone 18 lineup in 2026 (and 2027, if rumors about a scattered schedule are to be believed).
What’s wrong with the colors on iPhones?
The ‘professional’ factor
When I bought an iPhone 16 Pro last fall, I chose the desert titanium option. Not because I’m a huge fan of gold, tan, or cream tones — it’s because the other options were even more dull, consisting of Black, White, or Natural Titanium (read: silver). They’re not ugly, but that’s hardly a ringing endorsement.
Things get slightly more interesting with the base iPhone 16, yet in my opinion, that product’s colors are flawed too. Aside from Black or White, you get the choice of Pink, Teal, or Ultramarine. Those are all pastel colors, seemingly picked to be as inoffensive as possible. Indeed, Apple has had a weird thing for pastels for the past several years. It’s as if hot pink or a strong blue would call too much attention to you at the office.
Apple seems to be heading down a similar road with the iPhone 17 lineup. I do like the idea of copper and navy blue versions of the iPhone 17 Pro — burnt orange being my favorite color — but those are two choices in what’s likely to be another sea of blacks, whites, silvers, and pastels. It’s not even clear that the copper Pro will actually be burnt orange, in real life — some images have hinted at (you guessed it) a more pale tone. There goes the Texas Longhorns audience.
To maximize its sales and minimize its inventory, it’s in the company’s best interest to limit itself to “safe” colors most of the time.
Why is Apple limiting things like this? To an extent, it’s a practical necessity. It can be difficult to tint or coat metal frames in a way that both looks good and won’t quickly chip or fade away. Apple has encountered that problem in the past, most recently with the iPhone 15 Pro. Some buyers complained that anything but the Natural Titanium version of the device was prone to losing its color with scratches, at least if you kept it out of a case for more than a few minutes.
Then there’s the issue of sales potential. Apple could hypothetically produce the iPhone 18 in dozens of shades, but many of them would sell poorly, if at all. To maximize its sales and minimize its inventory, it’s in the company’s best interest to limit itself to “safe” colors most of the time. Its selection for Pro models is always the most conservative, restricted to colors that are stereotypical “luxe” or “professional.” Is a lawyer really less professional for carrying something in maroon or mustard yellow?
Why do iPhone colors matter so much?
The nature of modern tech and some final thoughts
As I said at the beginning, color is one of the least important things about a smartphone. That’s particularly true if you slap on a case that shows little to nothing of the phone underneath. Mine, for example, only reveals the camera bump and the Camera Control button. Effectively, Desert Titanium ends up being an accent rather than the main attraction.
That’s good enough for some of us, however, and I know many people are fond of transparent cases, precisely because they want to show off the bare look of their phone without risking hardware worth upwards of $600. Colors may not matter a lot — but they do matter, simply because smartphones have become one of the most personal devices you can own. I take my iPhone with me everywhere I go, whether it’s driving, the gym, or riding around on my bike. I use it for work. I use it for fun. I take photos of my friends and family. Without a smartphone, I might not have gotten married, since owning one made it easier to exchange messages and find date spots around Austin.
People want the most essential gadget in their lives to feel authentic to them. It’s why you can choose different wallpapers, and why so many case options exist. Some people go a step further, covering their devices in stickers, lanyards, and just about any decoration they can. Taste-wise, this does go too far sometimes — I think crystals, sparkles, and fur are gaudy, not fancy — but I get the underlying motivation. In light of this, a decent set of color options provides owners with a foundation to build upon.
What should Apple do with the iPhone 18’s colors, from a realistic perspective? I’d like a wider range of options for every model — at least one or two more. If nothing else, the company needs to return to some of the bolder colors we’ve seen in the past, and experiment with new ones when it’s feasible. Deep reds. Pacific greens. Yellows that are strong instead of sickly. There’s a universe of shades out there to try, and I’m sure at least some Apple executives are into the idea. One of the reasons the Apple Watch has been so successful is that it’s easy to personalize. I’ve never seen two people with the same band and metal combination, let alone the same watchface.
We’re talking about a trillion-dollar megacorporation that’s allegedly working on a robotic arm for your desk. In comparison, a burnt orange iPhone should be trivial.
Whether Apple will attempt any of this is another matter. 2026 might not be the year for it, since, in addition to the iPhone 18, 18 Pro, 18 Air, and 18e, Apple will reportedly be shipping its first foldable, sometimes dubbed the iPhone Fold. That’s a lot for any smartphone maker to handle, given all the possible color and storage combinations. But if any company can do it, it’s Apple. We’re talking about a trillion-dollar megacorporation that’s allegedly working on a robotic arm for your desk. In comparison, a burnt orange iPhone should be trivial.
