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I'm more excited about smartphone colors than any actual new features in 2026

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Why This Matters

The focus on innovative and vibrant color options for the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro highlights the importance of aesthetics and personalization in consumer electronics. While new features often dominate headlines, unique color choices can significantly influence consumer appeal and brand differentiation in a competitive smartphone market.

Key Takeaways

Not to be outdone, Apple is also rumored to be putting more life into the iPhone 18 Pro series when it is announced next month. For years now, the basic iPhone colors have alternated between being nicely saturated and distinctive (see the iPhone 14 and 16) and so pale they can barely be called colors at all (the iPhone 15 was a particularly egregious example).

The Pro lineup, on the other hand, has almost always stuck with some variants of black, silver and gold. There's usually a fourth option, like the iPhone 14 Pro in deep purple, but even those colors have been fairly muted.

That changed last year with the "cosmic orange" iPhone 17 Pro, a hue that feels almost copper in the right light. And this year, rumors are that the iPhone 18 Pro will come in a new "dark cherry" along with a lighter blue and the expected silver and black options. I feel like the dark cherry is a bit of a step back from the boldness of the orange iPhone 17 Pro — it looks like it'll be another of the uber-dark shades Apple commonly uses for the Pro series phones. But, as always, these things usually look better in person than they do in renders (particularly ones that aren't even official at this point). We'll find out next month.