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Other Apple, why are the colors of iPhones so ugly?

espreso said:
Every year when Apple launches the new iPhones I ask myself, what the hell are these colors?
On the regular iPhone 15 the colors were really amazing like the light blue and on the 15 Pro there was the white which was okay and the blue which was really pretty
But what are the colors on the 16? Desert titanium which is really ugly white which is the least bad and black and natural titanium which are really not pretty
Why don't you give us 8 beautiful colors like on the iMac?
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That's because Jony Ive has already left the building.
 
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After the fiasco with the jet Black iPhone 7s that scratched and could not be polished or fixed in any way, I’ve stuck with natural finishes.

Even in a case, dust gets in between and damages the phone. I’m too chicken to run without a case.
 
ghanwani said:
Something is way off with Apple's design team. Everything about their products is headed south.

I would actually change the title of the post to "Why are iPhones so ugly?" with color just being one of the things that's wrong about them.
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I would change the title to, "Why do I think the iPhone are so ugly?" That way people would be alerted that the post is not worth the time to read.
 
eyoungren said:
Perhaps it's more of a 'not like everyone else' type of color than what you are suggesting. IDK, I don't really know what Apple thinks. I do know that I am still in possession of a 3GS, a 4, a 4s, two iPhone 5's, a 6+, a 6s+ and my current 11 Pro Max. All black phones, except for the 6+, 6s+ and the 11PM which are Space Gray. Oh, and the 4s is white.

That's the long was around of telling you that not everyone gets rid of their phones - let alone every two years. Yeah, I'm not typical, but I also know that many here do keep at least some of their phones. Some don't even upgrade every two years (imagine that). And it's probably not because they love the color so much they'd regret getting 'rid' of them.
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I absolutely don’t get rid of mine either, ha. I still have most of them back to my 5. I’m just talking about the average consumer I suppose, a lot of the non-techy people I know tend to just trade theirs in with the carrier promotions (which is valid, they do offer great trade in deals)
 
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eyoungren said:
Apple had color on the early iBooks and the early G3 iMacs. But most of the Macs from 1984 to the late 1990s were beige. The Apple IIs in the mid-70s to 1983 were beige. So was the Lisa. In the early 00s the PowerMacs and PowerBooks got silver colored and the iBooks/iMacs white. That same coloring scheme continued on in to the Mac Pros/MacBook Pros and the MacBooks.

When the iPhone launched in 2007 you got black. Later came white. The 5c was the first offering with multiple colors and they were all budget phones.

The colored iMacs were only from like 1998 to some time in the early 00s. And the colored iBooks gave way to the white iBook G3s in like 2001 or so. Comparatively, this was a short time period. And then Apple offered colored iMacs again, much later. Presumably when they were no longer 'underdogs.' So, for me you seem to be pulling out a weird argument that Apple only had color when they were underdogs and now no color because they aren't. I'm not seeing the logic here.

And lastly, I buy iPhone because I like iOS and you can't get iOS on Android. But that's an intentional choice, not a 'going to buy them regardless'. There are other choices that I could make, I just choose not to.
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It’s not an argument, just a guess and a vibe I’m getting, and it makes sense in my head from a design perspective. You have to be flashier to draw attention to your brand when you’re the underdog, and can be more conservative when you’re at the top, and I don’t mean just color but overall design as well.

I’m also speaking exclusively about people that care about things like color and design, which is not everyone, and if you’re not one of those people this entire thread is meaningless and you can feel free to ignore. You will always have a black and white options, just like with cars.

Some of us do care about things like color, quite a lot, even to the point that it’s the deciding factor in which model to buy. Our phone is now the main accessory in our lives, a partner that’s always with us, that was never the case for computers of the 70s-90s. Those sat in an office or at home, more like furniture. But Steve didn’t like how ugly they were back then, even as furniture, if you listen to his speech at the 1983 International Design Conference. It was just something he put up with, and when he came back to Apple in the 90s his decision to shift to more emotive design with the iMac, iBook etc are arguably what saved the company (along with OS X and the iPod).

Anyway, all that to say, many of us want our phone to express our personality to a degree, or at least be a color we enjoy looking at ❤️🧡💙💜💛💚
 
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Depends year to year. I think the 16 colors are really good this time, while the 15 colors were terrible.
 
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I'm 100% with you. My favorite colors were the blue-green of iPhone 12 and original M1 iMac. Something is weird about Apple's color choices. They're always too pastel-vibed for me. I usually go with space grey because the colors are pretty ugly
 
ProbablyDylan said:
It's just the Pro phones that get bad colors, too. The 16 in Teal or Pink looks phenomenal.

Desert and Natural Titanium? Would you like Beige or Different Beige?
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I love Teal but the 16's version of teal looks more like Mint Green to me. At least in photos
 
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I would say the colors are boring and perhaps drab--not necessarily ugly. I think it may have to do with some people misperception that nice colors are not professional. I don't share this view at all, but it's been expressed fairly frequently on these forums.
 
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sleeptodream said:
It’s not an argument, just a guess and a vibe I’m getting, and it makes sense in my head from a design perspective. You have to be flashier to draw attention to your brand when you’re the underdog, and can be more conservative when you’re at the top, and I don’t mean just color but overall design as well.

I’m also speaking exclusively about people that care about things like color and design, which is not everyone, and if you’re not one of those people this entire thread is meaningless and you can feel free to ignore. You will always have a black and white options, just like with cars.

Some of us do care about things like color, quite a lot, even to the point that it’s the deciding factor in which model to buy. Our phone is now the main accessory in our lives, a partner that’s always with us, that was never the case for computers of the 70s-90s. Those sat in an office or at home, more like furniture. But Steve didn’t like how ugly they were back then, even as furniture, if you listen to his speech at the 1983 International Design Conference. It was just something he put up with, and when he came back to Apple in the 90s his decision to shift to more emotive design with the iMac, iBook etc are arguably what saved the company (along with OS X and the iPod).

Anyway, all that to say, many of us want our phone to express our personality to a degree, or at least be a color we enjoy looking at ❤️🧡💙💜💛💚
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The choices I make in the color and design of my devices reflect the aesthetic I prefer to present to others. I've been a graphic designer for 26 years, so I work with color and design every day. I do care about these things. But, I express myself through what I do on and with my devices, while my aesthetic is a different matter.

2025-03-03 12.07.17.jpg

You express yourself with color. Great, we all have our own way of expressing ourselves. But I still disagree with the assessment that Apple only used color/design when it was the underdog.
 
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I think the colors are generally OK, even if they're not exactly what I would pick every year. I personally really like the 16 Pro Desert Titanium, and I really liked the deep blue of my former iPhone 13 mini. I generally like richer colors more than pastels, and I like gold and black more than silver or grey. Before the 13 mini, I had a red SE (2020), and I really liked the bright red glass back. If they made a red version of a Pro iPhone—and I were ready to upgrade—that would probably be my pick.

As for cases, I only use bumper cases on my phones, so the back is always bare. And my current 16 Pro case also leaves the sides half uncovered. It lets me see the color of the metal on the sides (and swipe more naturally from the edges). It protects the corners and the cameras, and it keeps the screen off of surfaces if I set it face down. That's all I want from a "case."
 
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Not that bothered and I never ever ever use a case. I tend to go for the whitest Pro model each year as its inoffensive, has lighter side rails and I can't stand black coloured phones with dark sides as it just makes the phone look like some monolithic slab. I like to see a distinction between the screen and sides.
One thing that does annoy me however is the way people very purposefully say "product red" when they could just say the "red one".
 
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I don't care about the color of the phone I use since I'll just be putting a case on it. My iphone 13 is a dark green. I like the color, but I hardly ever think about it. It really annoys me that people find stupid reasons to complain about the colors of the phone when the vast majority of them are just going to slap a case on it and never see the color of the phone again until they replace it.
 
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An iPhone is like a car as it has to be aesthetically pleasing as well as having the features you like
Apple needs to get assistance in its color choices
 
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jhfenton said:
I think the colors are generally OK, even if they're not exactly what I would pick every year. I personally really like the 16 Pro Desert Titanium, and I really liked the deep blue of my former iPhone 13 mini. I generally like richer colors more than pastels, and I like gold and black more than silver or grey. Before the 13 mini, I had a red SE (2020), and I really liked the bright red glass back. If they made a red version of a Pro iPhone—and I were ready to upgrade—that would probably be my pick.

As for cases, I only use bumper cases on my phones, so the back is always bare. And my current 16 Pro case also leaves the sides half uncovered. It lets me see the color of the metal on the sides (and swipe more naturally from the edges). It protects the corners and the cameras, and it keeps the screen off of surfaces if I set it face down. That's all I want from a "case."
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I like the more colorful iPhones, in some ocassions they look off, but the aluminum is not bad either
 
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