A new report from Japanese tech blog Macotakara is suggesting that Apple will update the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus to add a Jet White color option. Based on the name, following the popularity of the glossy Jet Black color, Apple would add a glossy white case chassis option to its existing line of flagship iPhones. Right now, the iPhone 7 series phones are available in five colors: Silver, Black, Gold, Rose Gold and Jet Black.
The report should be treated with quite a bit of skepticism as the source lacks details and the move does not follow the traditional cycle of Apple product releases.
Ever since the original iPhone, Apple has not added a new color to an existing iPhone hardware design; new colors are introduced as part of next-generation redesigns. For example, Apple added the Gold color with iPhone 5s and Rose Gold with iPhone 6s.
Perhaps, the only exception to this is the iPhone 4 where the white version was release nine months after the black model in June 2010. However, the color was announced alongside the original launch as it was intended to launch simultaneously but was delayed due to manufacturing difficulties.
Although Macotakara has had a decent track record in recent months regarding Apple products, it does not seem like it is as confident with this report; the entire source story is only two sentences long and the latter simply warns that ‘this information may be unreliable’.
The possibility of a Jet White iPhone 8 was thrust into the rumor mill when Apple unveiled the new ceramic Apple Watch Edition, which has a brilliant white case finish. However, the cost and practicality of making an iPhone out of the same material is not clear and by no means a sure thing. It seems even more far-fetched that Apple would add such a radical change to the existing iPhone 7 series hardware.
As well as the product development challenges — surely Apple engineering is focused on iPhone 8 development at this point — adding a new color mid-cycle would likely upset devoted Apple customers who upgraded to iPhone 7 at the release and didn’t have the new white color as an option. Apple is also struggling to meet demand for its existing 5-color iPhone 7 lineup, so it’s unlikely to be rushing to add yet another SKU into the supply chain.
For now, treat the idea of a Jet White iPhone 7 as a very sketchy rumor that needs a lot more justification than a two sentence blog post to have any real credibility.
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