Late last year, a Reddit post caused something of a furore. A user posted a photo of their Cosmic Orange iPhone 17 Pro that had turned pink. A few other examples followed.
However, while you should continue to follow Apple’s advice on how to avoid this, tests have shown it’s unlikely to happen accidentally …
The new Cosmic Orange color introduced with the launch of the iPhone 17 Pro proved a popular one. However, some owners found that they were experiencing discoloration. The casing was turning to either a pink or rose gold colour.
The likely explanation for this was found in a warning Apple provides on its support website.
Don’t use products containing bleach or hydrogen peroxide. Avoid getting moisture in any openings, and don’t submerge your iPhone in any cleaning agents. After disinfecting, wipe with a soft, slightly damp (with water), lint-free cloth.
As we noted at the time, hydrogen peroxide is a strong oxidizer, which likely explains the discoloration.
CNET’s Andrew Lanxon grew curious about how likely this was to happen if you accidentally used common household cleaning products. He repeatedly applied two products which would directly contravene Apple’s advice.
I bought an “oxy-active” stain remover spray that, among other things, contains “oxygen-based bleaching agents” which sounded ideal. Apple also clearly states “don’t use products containing bleach or hydrogen peroxide” on its support page so, naturally, I bought some thick bleach too.
Despite multiple applications of both chemicals over a three-month period, leaving them on for up to an hour each time, he found that discoloration was somewhere in the very marginal to nil range.
Several months later I don’t think there’s any notable difference. In certain light, if I sort of squint a bit and angle the phone in just the right way then I think maybe I can see a slight shift in the color. But I also think I might be imagining it.
So yeah, don’t deliberately do this, but if you realize you’ve accidentally used a cloth that has been used with a household cleaning product, you probably shouldn’t panic.
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