The brand new cosmic orange iPhone 17 Professional is undeniably orange. It’s not bronze, it’s not burnt umber, it’s not sepia or another subdued shade that fades into the background.
No, Apple lastly — after years of begging and pleading — produced a pro-level iPhone in an unapologetically daring colour.
As a person in a loincloth as soon as screamed whereas looking at one thing unfathomable: “Oh my god … [you] lastly, actually did it. You maniacs!”
To be truthful, in that occasion, the bare-chested man was ranting about one thing horrific. With the cosmic orange iPhone 17 Professional, Apple did one thing beforehand unthinkable — and completely welcome.
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iPhone 17 Professional in cosmic orange is the primary daring iPhone colour
Ever since introducing the primary iPhone Professional in 2019, Apple has eschewed daring colours in favor of Hole-friendly shades that don’t stand out. In the meantime, the common iPhone dazzled with beautiful, vibrant colours like final 12 months’s ultramarine. Followers of daring colours (and high-end cameras) understandably felt unnoticed.
It’s past a first-world downside, admittedly. And it’s principally pointless, contemplating most individuals pop a case on their iPhones. However I’m not the one one who has lamented in regards to the lack of colourful iPhone Professional choices.
And, as you may see from the lineups, they have been … not daring:
iPhone 11 Professional: silver, house grey, gold, midnight inexperienced
iPhone 12 Professional: silver, graphite, gold, Pacific blue
iPhone 13 Professional: silver, graphite, gold, Sierra blue, alpine inexperienced
iPhone 14 Professional: house black, silver, gold, deep purple
iPhone 15 Professional: pure titanium, blue titanium, white titanium, black titanium
iPhone 16 Professional: desert titanium, pure titanium, white titanium, black titanium
iPhone 17 Professional: cosmic orange, deep blue, silver
12 months after 12 months, I’ve opted for the brand new colours (Pacific blue, Sierra blue, and so on.), solely to be disillusioned once they turned out to be extra muted in actual life than Apple’s scorching promo pictures made them seem.
Peak disappointment hit with the iPhone 14 Professional, when each my spouse and I preordered the exotic-sounding deep purple colour.
“It’s not purple,” have been the primary phrases out of her mouth once we opened the containers. And she or he was proper. In most lighting, it regarded like a murky off-black. In the event you took it outdoors and the solar hit it good, it regarded higher than a bruise.
Whereas discussing iPhone colours on our podcast, The CultCast, I’ve known as many occasions for Apple to provide an iPhone Professional in a really vivid colour. Cupertino creates these extraordinarily succesful gadgets for content material creators, so why not seize that inventive spirit?
I all the time wished a colour possibility that had extra in widespread with a carnival trip or a customized sizzling rod — and I figured filmmakers, vloggers and different free spirits would, too. In truth, why not go along with a piping-hot metallic flake search for most eye-popping potential? (I understand Apple faces real-world constraints and places a variety of effort into making iPhones with excellent finishes that may be produced in mass portions. However nonetheless, a man can dream …)
That is the colour I need for the upcoming orange iPhone 17 Professional:https://t.co/eoZU0weOH5#AppleEvent
— lewiswallace (@lewiswallace) August 26, 2025
What does the cosmic orange iPhone 17 Professional actually appear to be?
Picture: Lewis Wallace/Cult of Mac
Previous to preorders opening, it was troublesome to inform what the brand new colour would appear to be. Apple’s advertising supplies, in addition to hands-on images and movies from the corporate’s Awe Dropping occasion, made it anybody’s guess whether or not the cosmic orange colour would truly scratch the itch for one thing legitimately daring.
“Bastard higher not be brown,” I informed my boss in Slack after getting preapproved for a cosmic orange iPhone 17 Professional.
I hoped Apple would do the correct factor and make it truly orange, however I not-so-secretly feared it will skew a boring, miserable bronze. (I even plunked down $50 for a backup plan.)
After I received to Apple Union Sq. on iPhone 17 launch day to select up my preorder, I lastly received to see all the brand new Apple merchandise in individual.
The deep blue iPhone 17 Professional regarded fairly good-looking — a stable choose for anybody who’s unhappy that there’s no black possibility this time round. (Assuming you may deal with the scratch potential, that’s.) The iPhone Air regarded fairly glossy in its sky blue and cloud white colours. So skinny, so tempting.
And the cosmic orange iPhone 17 Professional regarded … orange!
“It’s juicy!” mentioned the enthusiastic Apple Retailer worker who dealt with my pickup.
Sure, it’s orange, however it may very well be even extra orange!
Picture: Lewis Wallace/Cult of Mac
As soon as I received the cosmic orange iPhone dwelling, I took it into my yard. Below the brilliant California noon solar, the cellphone’s colour modified as I checked out it from completely different angles.
In sure positions, it regarded a really vibrant orange and the two-tone iPhone 17 Professional design actually caught out. As with the muted iPhone Professionals of the previous, it actually trusted how the solar hit it. Within the shade, the cellphone regarded extra muted, with the glass a part of the design trying a creamy, Dreamsicle orange.
In a change from earlier fashions, Apple crafted the Professional fashions with an aluminum unibody design this 12 months, with a big piece of Ceramic Protect glass on the bottom to allow wi-fi charging. It appears fairly apparent on the cosmic orange and silver fashions, and I’m not an enormous fan. (In earlier years, Apple went with a metallic body and an all-glass again for its Professional fashions.)
In all honesty, the cosmic orange iPhone 17 Professional by no means regarded as righteously and vibrantly orange as I had hoped in my wildest fever goals. The aluminum physique doesn’t look as intensely orange because the Motion button on the Apple Watch Extremely 2.
Nonetheless, I’m glad general — and thrilled that Apple’s designers lastly broke free from the muted iPhone Professional colour palettes of the previous. I hope the cosmic orange colour sells properly and we see much more daring colours sooner or later.
Now, if solely they’ll throw just a little hot-rod orange flake in there subsequent time …
Extra professional than ever
iPhone 17 Professional (256GB mannequin)
Apple’s strongest iPhone will get a redesign and spectacular new capabilities. The iPhone 17 Professional’s aluminum unibody design appears completely different for certain, with a wider digital camera plateau. However the massive modifications are inside: the highly effective A19 Professional chip and a vapor chamber to chill it off for optimum efficiency.
- Base mannequin jumps to 256GB of storage.
- 48MP rear cameras, with 8x optical zoom.
- 18MP Heart Stage entrance digital camera for higher selfies.
- Helps ProRes RAW for studio-quality video.
- Solely three colours: silver, deep blue and cosmic orange.
