Earlier today, Apple announced that its iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max would come in a new “deep purple” shade. As a purple-lover, I was intrigued. But my day has gone downhill from there.
I’ve been seeing videos of this new “deep purple” in action and I’m confused, because whatever shade it is, it’s not that. A video posted by tech extraordinaire iJustine shows a color-shifting palette of charcoals, lavenders, and periwinkles.
This iPhone 14 Pro has an identity crisis.
And I don’t just have my good taste to go on. Scroll through the quote tweets of iJustine’s video and you’ll see that we’re all collectively squinting to see where in the world Apple got “deep purple” from.
“Am I being gaslit?” said one. “This is black.” Said another, “I’m looking for the purple part??” Me too, girl. Me too.
A better name for it would be “midnight violet” or “charcoal aubergine” — colors I just made up. (Apple, I charge a reasonable consulting fee.) I would even take “space purple” as a more accurate option.
When we got our hands on the phone at Apple Park, we were even more perplexed. Our man-on-the-ground Stan Schroeder had this to say: “It’s quite subdued. It’s not screaming purple. It’s purple-ish.”
Not what I’d call a ringing endorsement, Apple.
This color has such a complicated personality.
Credit: Mashable
Just to make sure I wasn’t seeing things, I color-matched the official photos of the iPhone 14 Pro that Apple released today. Are these colors actually “deep purple?” I’ll let you decide.
I’m seeing grays and lavenders.
Credit: Mashable
For all the “where’s the purple?” comments on Twitter, there have also been many saying that they think the color is beautiful and couldn’t wait to buy it. I totally agree! It’s a beautiful shade.
It’s just not “deep purple.”
