The ‘iPhone 13 Pro’ Will Come in These Cool New Colours

Over the past few years, Apple has been jazzing up the colour options for its entire iPhone family, and although the standard iPhones arguably get the widest selection of “fun” colours, Apple has finally begun to adorn its “Pro” models with some pretty attractive and classy finishes as well.

Except for the special (PRODUCT)RED models that began with the iPhone 7, for years Apple’s mainstream iPhones stuck to basic shades of black and grey, white and silver, and a couple of variations of gold. Apple toyed with the idea of more fun and colourful iPhones back in 2013 with the iPhone 5c, but that particular budget iPhone mostly flopped for several reasons.

Following that failed experiment, Apple abandoned the idea of more colourful iPhones for a few years. We wouldn’t see the concept return until the iPhone XR launched in 2018, and the colours were such a surprise that some people feared that Apple would repeat the same mistakes. However, the iPhone XR ushered in an entirely different class of iPhone — a current model, rather than one that used last year’s technology. It was Apple’s attempt to create a more affordable iPhone for people who didn’t need the features of its more expensive flagship, and it quickly became a runaway success.

This led directly to the iPhone 11, which became even more wildly successful, actually turning things around for Apple in China, and by last year, the release of the iPhone 12 mini made it clear that Apple had very distinctly divided its iPhone into two separate and distinct tiers of standard and “Pro” models.

It also began to use colours to further distinguish the two tiers. The standard iPhone 11 models stayed with the same sort of fun colours that the iPhone XR ushered in, while the iPhone 11 Pro gained an elegant Midnight Green finish.

However, last year’s iPhone 12 lineup seemed to be the beginning of a trend for the Pro models, with a new Pacific Blue iPhone 12 Pro suggesting that Apple was preparing to distinguish each year’s iPhone Pro with a different premium colour option. This of course begs the question of what colour the “iPhone 13 Pro” will come in.

Is Orange the New Black?

In a big roundup of new “iPhone 13” info shared by EverythingApplePro, leaker Max Weinbach notes that Apple is working on two new colour finishes for this year’s iPhone, although it’s not clear yet whether both versions will launch this year.

Firstly, Apple is said to be working to bring back the sort of deep black not since Apple’s very cool but controversial Jet Black iPhone 7 was launched in 2016.

In this case, however, Apple is going for much more of a matte finish, and it’s technically not going to be a new colour option, but rather a direct replacement for the current graphite model. In fact, Apple may even continue to call it graphite, but Weinbach says it’s actually “borderline black.”

So, the new black isn’t expected to follow in the footsteps of Midnight Green or Pacific Blue. Instead, it looks like Apple is leaning toward a bronze-like orange finish. At this point, however, Weinbach says Apple is only in the experimental stages with the colour, and it’s unclear whether it will launch this year, although it could also be held off for the 2022 “iPhone 14.”

What Else Is Coming?

Weinbach shares a few other interesting details, including a new and improved fingerprint-resistant coating for the front glass and stainless-steel band that should help to reduce smudges.

He also backs up earlier reports of a new rear camera design, although Weinbach argues that the lenses won’t be flush, as previously suggested, but that Apple will work on making the lenses protrude less than they did with the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max.

Apple is also rumoured to be working on a major redesign to how Portrait Mode works at a machine learning level, combining more information from the LiDAR Scanner to provide significantly more accurate edge detection. While it’s possible this improvement may be limited to the Pro models, other reports have suggested that the entire “iPhone 13” lineup is getting LiDAR, so there’s no reason to assume it wouldn’t be available across the board. In fact, unless it requires new machine learning capabilities found in Apple’s next-generation A15 chip, it may even come to the iPhone 12 Pro models in iOS 15.

The rest of Weinbach’s report mostly confirms rumours we’ve already heard, including that Apple plans to launch the same four iPhone models this year, including a 5.4-inch “iPhone 13 mini” that it hopes can offer improved battery life, and that Apple is working to reduce the size of the notch across the entire lineup.

[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.]