Drab Fold, bright Pro predicted for fall iPhone event

For reasons known only to itself, Apple has historically followed a strategy of releasing inexpensive smartphones in bright and vibrant colors, while limiting its premium handsets to a more muted palette. But this changed last year with the launch of the Cosmic Orange iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max, and Apple was promptly rewarded with huge commercial success driven especially by the popularity of that color in China.

With this in mind, all eyes will be on Apple’s color selections this coming September, when the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Fold are unveiled. It’s highly unlikely that we’ll get exactly the same choices for the second year in a row; Apple loves to add a new color with each generation (while usually removing one or more that might not have sold so well), so buyers can advertise the fact they’ve got a new model. But surely Apple will have learned the lesson and make sure it includes at least one bright finish.

One analyst who agrees is Mark Gurman, who discusses the likely colors in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter. He isn’t 100 percent certain about what we’ll see in September–which isn’t unreasonable when predicting a cosmetic detail nearly seven months from launch–but he thinks this year’s new finish will be red.

It’s worth noting that this probably won’t be as conspicuous as Cosmic Orange: Gurman describes it as a “deep red”, and the Deep Blue option for the iPhone 17 Pro is a dark navy that’s closer to black than to the oceanic mid-blue that was available for the iPhone 13. (A non-Pro phone, of course.) So we’ll probably be looking at a rich burgundy rather than the bright scarlet of Apple’s many (Product) Red devices.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean there won’t be any bright colors at all, because Gurman thinks one option that’s currently on the table is to offer both Cosmic Orange and Deep Red.

“Given the success of orange, I wouldn’t be surprised if the company keeps that option around and just adds the red as an additional choice,” Gurman explains. “But red and orange might be a little too close on the color wheel to have both. We’ll see how this plays out.”

Whereas the structural and internal details of Apple’s yearly phone refreshes need to be decided long in advance (and then ideally, but not always, kept secret), colors are tested and pondered until quite close to launch. As Gurman notes, there have been rumors that we might see purple and/or brown iPhones in late 2026, and he believes these might just be variants of the same red tone Apple has been testing.

In conclusion, then, it looks like the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro will be sold in three or four color finishes: Silver, Deep Blue, Deep Red, and possibly Cosmic Orange. We just won’t know the exact shade of red until nearer the time because Apple probably hasn’t decided yet.

As for the iPhone Fold, Gurman thinks Apple will return to its earlier philosophy and punish wealthy customers for buying its most expensive handset. The Fold may cost $2,399, but it won’t come in either orange or red. Just “some sort of dark gray or black and a variation of a white or light silver,” similar to how Apple delivered the iPhone X.

For all the latest news and rumors leading up to the launches in September, bookmark our regularly updated iPhone 18 superguide.