A Bronze Color May Finally Arrive in the iPhone 16 Pro
Credit: Sonny Dickson / XToggle Dark Mode
Rumors of an orange or bronze iPhone Pro finish have been circulating since 2021, but it looks like this may be the year the color finally graces an iPhone exterior with the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Apple shifted to a collection of fun and vibrant colors when it debuted its first middle-tier entry, the 2018 iPhone XR. However, the more “serious” iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max retained the old standards of silver, space gray, and gold. It wasn’t until the first iPhone Pro arrived in 2019 that the higher-end models gained a splash of color, starting with the Midnight Green iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max.
That began a trend that continues to this day. The iPhone 12 Pro lineup followed with Pacific Blue, a shade that was more or less leaked months before the new lineup debuted, even if the name wasn’t known until Apple unveiled it. However, that leak turned out to be an outlier — the rumor mill got it very wrong the following year.
With the accurate blue shade revealed nearly nine months before the 2020 iPhone lineup and proven correct, we took the reports of an orange or bronze iPhone 13 Pro pretty seriously when they started showing up in March, and sources doubled down on them in July. However, when the iPhone 13 Pro appeared, Apple instead came out with Sierra Blue, an unusual departure from the darker and more muted colors of the two prior Pro models.
Apple may have realized that the lighter blue wasn’t an ideal fit, as it followed that up with an Alpine Green six months later, marking the only time (so far) that an iPhone Pro has received a mid-cycle color update. The following year, Apple returned to darker hues with the Deep Purple iPhone 14 Pro, followed by the Blue Titanium on the iPhone 15 Pro.
Apple’s switch to a titanium frame has changed the game a bit, with the shiny stainless steel sides being replaced by a brushed metallic titanium finish on the most recent pro models. The Blue Titanium was a good fit for that, even if it bore a striking resemblance to the Pacific Blue of years past, but it’s also launched a round of new speculation as to what this year’s “special” iPhone Pro color will be.
In February, leaker Majin Bu, who has a mixed track record for such things, claimed they’d heard “Desert Yellow” and “Cement Gray” would be on deck this year. The “Cement Gray” or “Titanium Gray” would replace the “Natural Titanium” of the iPhone 15 Pro. At the same time, “Desert Titanium” or “Desert Yellow” was described as being a “deeper and heavier” version of the gold iPhone 14 Pro.
A later report from ShrimpApplePro highlighted a post on the Chinese social media site Weibo that predicted a new color called “Rose” would replace both Natural Titanium and Blue Titanium, adding that the same Weibo leaker accurately predicted the iPhone 14 Pro’s Deep Purple.
Another report in April didn’t offer up much about colors but shared that Apple was considering a polished titanium finish combined with a new method for color processing that would allow it to infuse deeper and richer colors into the iPhone 16 Pro. The polished titanium would resemble the stainless steel frames of older pro models while being considerably more durable and scratch-resistant.
Now, with the iPhone 16 Pro launch likely less than a month away, leaker Sonny Dickson has supplied photos of four iPhone 16 Pro dummy units with a conspicuous new color among them.
While this could be the “rose gold” or “rose titanium” we’ve heard rumored before, it looks much closer to a dark bronze. If there’s any gold in here, it’s certainly not rose, but the lighting may be playing tricks here.
The other three iPhone 16 Pro models are more like what we’d expect based on the iPhone 15 Pro, showing black, white, and gray. The last of these looks closer to Natural Titanium, but it’s darker and feels like it could be the “Cement Gray” that was shared in February.
Along the same lines, it’s not hard to see how “Desert Titanium” could be a name that was at least considered for the bronze finish, although it’s certainly far from yellow. However, we likely won’t get solid information on Apple’s names until the iPhone 16 lineup is revealed next month.
It’s important to remember that the images shared by Dickson are dummy units, not photos of any actual iPhone 16 Pro models. Dummy units are typically made for and by case makers, so they often show accurate colors so that case designs can be matched appropriately. However, there’s still no guarantee that the actual iPhone 16 Pro will look the same.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]
