William Gallagher
Apple's new green iPhone 13 and Alpine Green iPhone 13 Pro are a week away for customers, but reviewers have been giving their first verdicts on the new colors.
Perhaps it's because Apple did the same thing of adding a later color option to the iPhone 12 range, but the new green iPhone 13 is getting more cautious reactions. MKBHD practically shrugged and described the new release as just a "new color to get it back in the news."
Then the UK's Daily Mail skipped examining the new iPhones and instead picked up on how Samsung claims Apple has copied its green phones. The newspaper also picks up on how users have pointed out the number of times Samsung copies Apple.
When they get into the detail of the new iPhones, the reaction has been universally the same, at least so far. The new colors are well done, say all reviewers, with the iPhone 13 looking darker, but the iPhone 13 Pro somehow seeming to be better.
Plus over and over, each reviewer talks about how you can't really assess the green through photographs. Instead, typically reviewers have been more surprised by the green in real life than they had expected.
"[The colors come off considerably different given the material differences between Pro and non-Pro iPhones," says Tom's Guide in its first hands-on. "Alpine Green on the iPhone 13 Pro is a muted matte shade that skews dark in person, while simply "green" on the iPhone 13 is still a forest green..."
Twitter user Majin Bu, on the other hand, didn't say a word. Just showed the unboxed iPhones.
iPhone 13 Green First Look#Apple #AppleEvent #iPhone13 #iPhone13Green pic.twitter.com/UctS1Nv3MO
— Majin Bu (@MajinBuOfficial) March 10, 2022
Whereas Engadget described the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini's new colors as looking "earthier and closer to a leafy green."
The publication said that "the Pro flagships come with a sort of frosted finish that helps them better reject smudges," and that this "also makes the color a little paler and adds a metallic sheen."
And "The Verge" looked beyond Apple to how, it says, green has become "this season's hottest smartphone color."
"I set the two green iPhones on the dining room table alongside another recent green flagship phone: the Samsung Galaxy S22," writes the publication's Allison Johnson. "...I was caught a little off guard by just how much I liked the green treatment."
"Anyway, the iPhone 13 Pro is the current best green phone," she concludes, "followed by the standard iPhone 13, and the Galaxy S22 ranks third."
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
10 Comments
I almost purchased the green iPhone 12 pro but went with the blue in the end.
iPhone SE3 ! Good for those looking for lower priced iPhone with 5G but I rather buy iPhone 13+ or iPhone 13++. You know what model and year of iPhone I am talking about ? I thought Apple will keep frame size same as SE2 but make some design changes(integrated Touchid in power button) like increasing screen size but didn't happen so rather So, stick with what iPhone I have and wait for what I am looking for. IPhone SE3, not for me.
Looks like Apple finally found a use for that leftover paint from the green iPhone 11 Pro. I mean, c'mon Tim, if you're going to release a new color mid-cycle, at least choose a color that's actually, you know, "new." You could even experiment with a Pro color that wasn't a total snooze for a change. (Is there a language I don't know about in which "pro" is the word for "boring?" That would explain a lot!) The rumored but never realized "sunburst orange" color for the 13 Pro looked pretty amazing... an exciting color like that would be nice to for a change as an option.
No issues per se with a mid cycle color refreshment, but I do think it's about time to include the Product Red option with the Pro models.
The muted pastel shades in the Pro variants are pretty dull IMO. This green looks about the same as my 11 Pro's green, aka Boba Fett-green.
The non-Pro variants have a more vibrant hue. I like them better.