Malcolm Owen
Apple was considering making versions of its AirPods in different colors, with newly surfaced prototypes demonstrating the company's thoughts.
The AirPods are known for being sold just in white, with no other color options available to choose from beyond the standard. It now appears that there was a possibility for there to be a choice early in the product's life, but Apple decided against it.
In photographs released by Apple collector "@KostuamiSan" on Twitter, a version of the first-generation AirPods case was made using colors. Rather than just white, the outside casing of the charging case was one of a number of options.
Apple used to release color version of 1st gen AirPods, they planned to make Pink, ProductRED, Purple, Black, Blonde.
— Kosutami (@KosutamiSan) May 30, 2023
Reason of that: they wanted to match the color with iPhone 7. (Purple version of iPhone 7 cancelled at last)
And it's been cancelled. #appleinternal #Apple pic.twitter.com/AaQqrJZbSr
That list of non-white colors said to be considered include Pink, Purple, Black, Blonde, and (Product)Red. This was apparently planned to match the colors of the iPhone 7.
The tweeter adds that the products were cancelled during the DVT (Design Validation Testing) or PVT (Product Validation Test) stages, phases that are quite late in the production process. If true, that would mean Apple got very close to launch before cancelling them.
The AirPods case isn't the only non-colored item that Apple thought about adding color to. The tweeter has also shown off images of a colored version of the MagSafe Charger.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
2 Comments
This is soooooo news worthy…
Colour options should have got the go ahead from day one.
White is a classic, but utterly boring, option which obviously stands out when the buds are hanging out of your ears (no doubt what the marketers were looking to achieve) and having just one colour simplifies production, logistics etc.
None of that is actually beneficial to users, though.
I have a feeling that colour options will definitely arrive at some point.