Apple’s (RED) Partnership Continues The Fight Against AIDS
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Although Apple’s Black Friday Gift Card promo is still running until midnight tonight (Cyber Monday), we’re pretty sure you can do better by shopping around. Still, Apple is offering one other small incentive that might tip the scales for those who want their Apple product purchases to support a good cause.
Despite the demise of its (PRODUCT)RED iPhone and Apple Watch models over the past few years, Apple hasn’t entirely broken ties with (RED), which supports the Global Fund in its fight against HIV/AIDS and other health epidemics in developing countries. You still won’t be able to purchase a red-emblazoned iPhone 17 or Apple Watch Series 11, but this week all product purchases will provide support for the Global Fund.
Specifically, Apple has announced that it will be donating $5 to the Global Fund for every purchase made with Apple Pay at any of its stores, whether retail or online.
Since this only covers store purchases, it excludes digital goods and subscriptions through the App Store or iTunes. However, it appears that any physical item purchased from Apple using Apple Pay will qualify, whether it’s a third-party iPhone case or the new M5 Vision Pro.
The Demise of (PRODUCT)RED
Apple’s partnership with (RED) goes back to 2006, when it released a special (PRODUCT)RED edition of the second-generation iPod nano, promising that it would donate $10 to the Global Fund through (RED) for each model sold. Thanks to the popularity of the iPod nano — and likely the bold finish of the red model — Apple contributed more to the fund than any other (RED) partner.
Apple continued to offer (PRODUCT)RED editions of its devices throughout the entire iPod era, even extending to the iPod touch in 2012. However, it surprisingly took until early 2017 for it to come to the iPhone, when Apple released a special edition red iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus several months after the original models debuted.
This was followed by a similar mid-cycle refresh for the (PRODUCT)RED iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus in the spring of 2018, but sadly we never saw a (PRODUCT)RED edition of the iPhone X. Instead, Apple chose to keep its “pro” models — of which the X and XS were the start — with more muted colors. However, when it brought a splash of color to the iPhone XR lineup, a (PRODUCT)RED model was included from the start.
Apple continued to offer (PRODUCT)RED edition through to the iPhone 14. However, when the iPhone 15 switched to a new color infused glass, there was no red shade to be found among them. Since the entire lineup was made up of relatively washed-out pastels, many believed that perhaps Apple’s new process couldn’t achieve the bolder colors that would have been necessary to produce a (PRODUCT)RED model.
However, the richer and more saturated shades of the subsequent iPhone 16 seemingly disproved that theory, since not only did it still lack a red shade, but Apple also discontinued the (PRODUCT)RED Apple Watch model that year, with the Series 10 offered only in silver, rose gold, and jet black.
Earlier this year, Apple drove the final nail into its (PRODUCT)RED lineup when it released the iPhone 16e. We weren’t too surprised to find that model only came in black and white, but it also spelled the end of the 2022 iPhone SE and iPhone 14 — the last two remaining (PRODUCT)RED iPhone models that Apple was still selling at the time.
Today, the only item that Apple sells with a (PRODUCT)RED branding are silicone cases for the iPhone 14. Even though Apple sold red iPhone cases long before the first (PRODUCT)RED iPhone, it hasn’t opted to continue that tradition; the cases for the iPhone 15 and beyond are available in plenty of colors, but (PRODUCT)RED is not among them.
This led many to wonder if Apple’s (RED) partnership was coming to an end. The good news is that this week’s initiative shows that it’s not; if anything, Apple upped its pledge last year from $1 to $5 for every purchase, which could be a way to compensate for the lack of (PRODUCT)RED sales that spur year-round donations.
