It is reported that Apple is considering launching more distinctive and bold body colors for next year’s iPhone 18 Pro series, including the long-lost deep red color scheme. This change is considered to be a direct response to the success of the "Cosmic Orange" color scheme of the iPhone 17 Pro Max in the Chinese market.
For a long time, bright and bright colors have been mostly used by standard or entry-level iPhones, such as the purple iPhone 12 once launched, while Pro models usually use more restrained, business-like colors, and only in a few generations have relatively out-of-the-box color choices appeared. According to Bloomberg, the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are expected to break this tradition and adopt a more intense color scheme than the previous Pro series.
The report pointed out that because the orange iPhone 17 Pro Max is "especially popular" in the Chinese market, Apple is internally evaluating the use of dark red as one of the main new colors for the iPhone 18 Pro series. At the same time, the purple or brown versions mentioned in market rumors are likely just variants of different shades of red that Apple is testing during the testing phase, rather than independent color options that will eventually be available to consumers. Therefore, these purple or brown rumored body colors are believed to not appear on the final retail versions of iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.
At the same time, the news also mentioned that the popular Cosmic Orange appearance is expected to continue in the new generation, also due to its excellent sales performance in markets such as China. However, this more aggressive and saturated color strategy is not expected to extend to Apple’s upcoming foldable iPhone (commonly known as iPhone Fold). It is said that the foldable model will stick to a more sedate route and only come in two colors: one in black or dark gray, and the other in white or close to light silver.
It has been previously reported that the iPhone Fold will be mainly available in black and white, and this news basically continues this statement. It is worth mentioning that as early as 2023, there were rumors that the iPhone 15 Pro would use a dark red body color, but the final mass-produced machine did not adopt this design. Before this, Apple has launched (PRODUCT)RED special edition iPhones many times and even built a red Mac Pro. However, it is unclear whether the deep red used in this internal test is close to the color tone of the previous (PRODUCT)RED series.
In terms of appearance design, the industry also generally believes that even if there is a breakthrough in color matching, the overall appearance of iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max will not be significantly different from the previous generations. It is reported that due to the satisfactory market response of the iPhone 17 Pro series, Apple will continue its mature plan in terms of appearance and language instead of making major changes. However, judging from the pace of research and development, Apple usually has basically finalized the design of the next generation model before a certain generation of products is officially launched. Therefore, the finalization of the iPhone 18 Pro is not simply a "temporary adjustment" based on the sales performance of the 17 series.