All that glitters is not gold, and that apparently includes the iPhone 15 Pro. Rumors of iPhone 15 colors continue to circulate — we’ve even seen dummy units of the phones showing off possible colors — with evidence mounting that a gold option is going to be left out of the mix.
It would be a significant absence if gold ins’t part of the lineup for the iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Pro. Apple’s higher-end models have featured gold dating back to the iPhone Xs and Xs Max in 2018. You’d have to go to 2017’s iPhone X release to find a model where gold wasn’t an option on Apple’s priciest handset. (The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, which came out at the same time as the iPhone X, did include a gold colorway.)
| Row 0 – Cell 0 | iPhone 15 | iPhone 15 Pro |
| Row 1 – Cell 0 | Black, pink, yellow, blue and green | Gray, white, black and blue |
Add analyst Ming-Chi Kuo to the chorus of people who think that gold isn’t a part of Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro plans. Writing on Medium, the analyst includes potential colors for all of the iPhone 15 models. Kuo expects the Pro lineup to be available in gray, white, black and blue. Colors on the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are listed as black, pink, yellow, blue and green.
Kuo’s not the first Apple observer to leave gold out of the mix for the iPhone 15 Pro colors. An earlier report identified dark blue and titan gray as options for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, joined by the mainstay black and white options.
Need more proof? Leaker Sonny Dickson posted images of iPhone 15 Pro dummy units, and the photo shows four different colors — gray, blue, white and black. Gold’s a no-show.
Dickson also has iPhone 15 dummy units in multiple colors that match the blue, pink, green, yellow and black colors that Kuo mentions. Even better, you can also see a USB-C port on those units, backing up the long-standing rumor that the iPhone 15 will replace Apple’s Lightning port with USB-C connectivity.
The colors appear more muted than usual on these dummy units, especially on the iPhone 15 Pro units. That could reflect Apple’s rumored move to titanium as the material in the iPhone 15 Pro frame. While lighter and more durable than stainless steel, it’s tougher to produce vibrant colors.
Speaking of production, Kuo’s Medium post notes that several production issues —from the stacked image sensor to display and battery concerns — have been resolved. That said, Kuo warns that iPhone 15 Pro Max production lags behind the other new models, as it was the last of the phones to enter mass production. That could mean short supplies when the iPhone 15 launches in mid-September.
Apple just set a date for its Apple September event, and we’re assuming the iPhone 15 will be the star of the show at that September 12 launch. If Apple follows its normal rollout schedule, that means the new phones could be on sale as soon as September 22, even if a gold model turns out to be MIA.
