New iPhone 15, 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max Colors: Apple Creates Its Own Barbieheimer – CNET [CNET]

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Get ready for a fresh roster of colors with the iPhone 15. The new iPhone was announced Tuesday at Apple’s annual September event, where the company also unveiled the new Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2

The new iPhone 15 will be available in pink, yellow, green, blue and black.

iphone 15 in different color from an angled view
Apple; screenshot by James Martin/CNET

The new iPhone 15 Pro will also be available in four textured titanium options: black, white, blue and natural. The Pro Max is getting the four-color titanium treatment as well. Both will be available for preorder on Friday, Sept. 15, and will come out on the 22nd. You can peruse the best iPhone preorder deals here.

Apple said the new iPhone 15 is the first smartphone ever to have its colors “embedded throughout a single piece of durable color-infused glass.” The company’s use of metallic ions allows it to control the saturation of the color in the glass back, creating this new roster of colors, Apple said. The iPhone 15 models have a matte finish, with the titanium 15 Pro and Pro Max models coming with a textured matte finish.

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Watch this: Apple Debuts iPhone 15 and 15 Plus With USB-C, Dynamic Island

Apple’s new pink love affair: The pink iPhone 15 and Apple Watch

If you were getting Barbie vibes throughout Apple’s Wonderlust event, you weren’t alone.

Apple’s two areas of focus were the iPhone and the Apple Watch, and for both those segments of the presentation, pink was everywhere. In the first moments of the iPhone 15’s introduction to the world, the video started off in a pink haze. We swirl through this pink metallic world, until the pink iPhone 15 is revealed, domino-ing into the other colors afterward. 

pink space whirlwind.png
Apple; screenshot by James Martin/CNET

During the Apple Watch segments, pink was front and center — literally. The new Apple Watch Series 9 shows off its new pink model, and we see the new models flying in followed by an electric trail of pink rays.

various apple watches on black bacground, pink in middle
Apple; screenshot by James Martin/CNET
apple watch on black background with pink trails behind it
Apple; screenshot by James Martin/CNET

So, this all raises the question, What is Apple’s motivation behind this new pink love affair? For anyone who’s been online — or near a movie theater — this summer, the cultural phenomenon that has been the Barbie movie seems like an obvious answer. As Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie have dominated the box office, the cultural hype surrounding the movie has taken on Mattel’s iconic pink tone. From the movie’s extensive marketing campaign to fans’ “Barbie-core” reaction, pink has skyrocketed in popularity.

The new Apple products aren’t the exact shade of Barbie pink we’ve become accustomed to the past few months, and we don’t know for sure that Barbie inspired the new color. But now’s a great time to release a new pink iPhone.

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Titanium tones: iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max colors

Titanium also dominated Apple’s new product announcements. Rumors circulated in the days before the event that the darker hues of the Wonderlust logo would be seen in the new colors of the iPhone. We now know that the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models are the ones that’ll be available in these textured, darker colors. 

Similar to the basic names of the iPhone 15 colors, the names of the titanium shade range are simple: black titanium, white titanium, blue titanium and natural titanium.

Side view of four iPhone 15 Pro devices

From left: The new iPhone 15 Pro titanium colors. Black, white, blue and natural.

Apple, screenshot by James Martin/CNET

These models are a stark contrast from the light, springtime feel of the iPhone 15. Instead, the Pro and Pro Max colors are dark, with metallic flecks that are subtle but still eye-catching. The Pro and Pro Max are the Oppenheimer to the iPhone 15’s Barbie.

The Pro model colors are more in line with what Apple has historically created for its phone. When the iPhone 14 launched last September, it was available in blue, purple, Midnight, Starlight and Product Red. Apple then surprised users in March the next year by announcing that the 14 and 14 Plus would also be available in a new color, a pastel yellow. Apple could have similar plans for the new iPhone 15 — perhaps another springtime new addition? We’ll have to wait and see.