Apple in Colour.
Apple in Colour.
In an age of beige, Apple went all in on colour. This is a celebration of every bright, brilliant, joyful thing they ever made.
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1998
It started with a blue one.
Picture 1998. Every computer on earth is a beige box under a desk. Apple turns up with one shaped like a giant boiled sweet, in translucent blue, named after a beach. Absolute madness. People bought 278,000 in six weeks. Then came grape, and tangerine, and one covered in actual flowers. Suddenly a computer was something you put ON the desk, to show off.
And yes, being lovely to look at made Apple money again.
18 shells, from Bondi Blue to a literal dalmatian pattern · go on, click one
2004
The iPod turned your pocket into a rainbow.
The iPod started out sensibly white. That lasted about five minutes. Soon the nano, the shuffle and the mini were arriving in every colour going, baked right into the metal so they looked like sweets you probably shouldn't eat. A fresh set every autumn. This is peak Apple showing off, and honestly, good for them.
72 iPods · the nano alone came in up to nine colours · click any of them
2021
Then the colour came home.
For about twenty years the Mac put on a grey suit and behaved itself. Then in 2021 the iMac strolled back in wearing seven colours, basically waving across the room at its 1998 self. Welcome home, mate.
30 iMacs · seven colours, a big hello to 1998 · click one
2013
Every iPhone, in every colour.
The phone that launched in one lonely finish now shows up in the full spectrum. Product red, alpine green, sierra blue, deep purple, ultramarine, a fresh batch nearly every year like Apple's flicking through a paint chart and going 'yeah, that one.'
110 iPhone finishes · click any of them
2015
The Watch got a wardrobe.
It's basically jewellery, so obviously it came in colours. Aluminium, gold, product red, and the bands are a whole rainbow of their own. Match it to your outfit. We won't tell anyone.
41 Apple Watch finishes · click any of them
2010
And then colour got EVERYWHERE.
The iPad. The HomePod mini. The little AirPods case. Even the MacBook had its gold era. Once Apple got the taste for it, colour started quietly turning up in absolutely everything.
iPad, HomePod, AirPods, MacBook and friends · click any of them
All of it. At once.
Every bright, colourful thing Apple has ever sold, in one glorious pile. Go on, click one.
341 real colourways, all photographed, none of them beige
And the best-looking one did the most good.
In 2006 Apple made a red iPod nano and quietly put ten dollars from every sale towards fighting AIDS. Turns out the most colourful thing they ever did was also the kindest. Over twenty years, Apple's red products raised more than any other company on the planet.
$270M+
raised, more than anyone
192M
HIV tests funded
13.8M
people put on treatment
source: Apple Newsroom, 15 years fighting AIDS with (RED), 2021
apple in colour · the data drop 341 real product photographs · made by someone who still misses the Flower Power iMac