Gold Is Out | iPhone 15 Pro to Come in the Blue and the Gray

To accompany the rumored switch from stainless steel to titanium, several reports have suggested that Apple won’t be offering the iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max in gold this year. Instead, the options will limited to mostly neutrals, with a shade of blue providing the only splash of color.

If true, this would be the first time since the 2017 iPhone X that Apple hasn’t offered a gold version of its higher-end iPhone. While the iPhone X effectively ushered in the “Pro” lineup that we know today, it offered only Silver and Space Gray — the most limited selection of colors we’d seen since 2012 when the iPhone 5 arrived in only Black and White.

Apple introduced a white gold color scheme with the iPhone 5s the following year, and each year’s iPhone lineup has offered at least some models with a variant of either Gold or Rose Gold. The year the iPhone X was released, the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus carried that torch, but by 2018, it was passed to the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max when the iPhone XR adopted a whole rainbow of new finishes. These were also the first gold-colored stainless steel models.

Now, ten years after Apple first debuted the gold iPhone, this could be the first year we don’t have gold in the lineup.

With the iPhone 15 lineup expected to be unveiled in less than three weeks, it’s a safe bet that all of these details have been finalized. Now, the folks at 9toMac have spoken with some of their sources and discovered that as the iPhone 15 Pro will “usher in the era of titanium,” it’s time to retire an old color and make room for some new ones that are better-suited to the titanium treatment.

From what’s going around, that means the standard Silver and Space Gray (which could be “Space Black” this year) will be joined by a Blue and “Titanium Gray” version that could be dubbed “Titan Gray” from what 9to5Mac has heard. At the very least, that’s said to be the working title.

These colors are also being corroborated by several other sources, with the suggestion that the dark blue finish will replace the Deep Purple iPhone 14 Pro. The so-called “Titan Gray” would become the new gold to herald the transition from stainless steel to titanium.

What’s conspicuously missing from these reports is the “Crimson Red” we heard rumored last month. That seems to be off the table now, although we’d recommend leaving some room for Apple to surprise us. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time the rumor mill got it wrong; two years ago, several reports suggested we’d see the iPhone 13 Pro in orange, but what we got instead was Sierra Blue — a much lighter color that nobody saw coming.

Plus, dark blue has already been done with the Pacific Blue iPhone 12. That doesn’t mean that Apple can’t do it again, but it’s enough to throw a bit of uncertainty into the mix. There’s also the possibility that Apple might be saving Crimson Red for a spring surprise like it did with the Alpine Green iPhone 13 Pro in early 2022.

Meanwhile, don’t expect the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus to pick up the gold banner, although we’ll likely get a yellow version. While several colors are being tossed around, the front-runners among 9to5Mac’s sources seem to be black, green, blue, yellow, and pink. There’s no mention of “Starlight” or (PRODUCT)RED edition this year, although that latter one may simply be a given.

[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.]