Why isn't there a black iPhone 17 Pro?

There was a lot to take in at Apple's iPhone 17 launch this past week. After several years of mostly minute design changes, the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max have a completely new look. There's also an entirely new device, the iPhone Air. As if choosing a phone wasn't already complicated enough.

But beyond the main design changes and specs, one big question seems to be dominating among Apple fans this weekend as preorders open. What's up with the new iPhone Pro colours?

As pictured above, iPhone 17 Pro comes in Silver, Deep Blue and...er... Cosmic Orange. That's just three options compared to the usual four, and the most traditional colour option is conspicuously absent.

Ever since the first Pro, 2019's iPhone 11 Pro, Apple's higher-end phone has always had the option of some shade of black. Sometimes it had a more poetic name like 'Graphite' or 'Space Gray', but they were effectively all tastefully discreet and eternally fashionable shades of worn Steve Jobs polo neck.

The iPhone Pro has traditionally come in more muted colours than its entry-level sibling. Because the Pro isn't fun. It's serious and premium, darling. The iPhone 16 Pro came in Natural Titanium, White Titanium, Desert Titanium and, obviously, Black Titanium.

But this year, Apple's turned everything on its head. if you want a black iPhone, you have to look to the entry-level iPhone 17 or the new iPhone Air.

The iPhone 17 comes in a muted pastel Lavender, Mist Blue, Black, White and Sage. The iPhone Air comes in the barely-a-colour hues of Sky Blue, Light Gold, Cloud White and Apple's traditional 'Space Black'.

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Will the iPhone 17 Pro come in black?

Fans are baffled by the design decision, and two main theories are emerging:

1) Something went wrong, and production problems have caused the black iPhone 17 Pros to be delayed – perhaps the black anodizing process wasn’t passing quality control; or

2) Apple's going to do something typically Apple and launch a black iPhone 17 Pro as a surprise refresh in around six months, annoying everyone who already bought one of the other colours.

The problem for Apple might be that this latter theory is gaining so much traction that some people say they're going to put off buying an iPhone 17 Pro based on the assumption that a black model will be released at a later date.

”Not buying a new one until it does come in black, until then I will just stick with what I have,” a a typical comment on X. “Only three colors is insulting. Black is so basic to offer - No I don’t want a magnetic cord to offer my phone to every bicycle crook – I want a black phone,” another fan wrote.

Some even think the iPhone 17 Pro colours would look better inverted.

iPhone 17 Pro Colors "Inverted" from r/iphone

Sure, there are always cases – and plenty of manufacturers are offering iPhone 17 Pro cases in black, perhaps anticipating high demand for the missing colour (or assuming that there would be a black mode). But not everyone wants to use a case on their phone, or wants to have their naked phone in a lurid orange or not so pro-looking blue.

Will the iPhone 17 Pro come in black eventually? One fan has a third theory about the missing colour option, which also sounds very like Apple: “iPhone 18’s big feature will be that it now comes in black”.

If you don't want to wait 12 months for that, iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone air preorders are open now at Apple.com for release from next Friday, 19 September.