The colors of the iPhone 15 are sure to be a hot topic of conversation in the months leading up to Apple's new model release this fall. Color provides one way for a phone to reflect your personal style, and as one of the things other than the type of model you can choose or storage capacity, color can add to the appeal of a device - or leave you cold.

Take the new yellow color Apple introduced for the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 mini, for example. While some may appreciate the bright, minion-like hue, others may find it gaudy and a bit cartoonish. However, the addition of a sixth color to the iPhone 14 lineup will give shoppers more choices and could spur further sales, at least from Apple's standpoint.

So color will be an important part of the iPhone 15 story, and while there are still six months until the iPhone 15 release date, expect to hear a lot of talk about potential iPhone 15 colors between now and September.

With the caveat that a lot can change in the coming months, here is what we know about iPhone 15 colors and what past color decisions tell us about this year's model.

Before diving into the iPhone 15 color rumors, it might be helpful to look back at Apple's recent color choices for its recently released phones. If we do so, some patterns will emerge.

Looking at the standard iPhone over the past four years, Apple tends to offer consumers a choice of five colors for devices released in the fall. (The exception was the iPhone 11, released in 2019, which offered six color choices.) iPhone Pro options tend to be a bit more limited, with just four colors in the last four iPhone Pro launches.

As for the color choices themselves, the standard iPhone models (which include the iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 13 mini, and most recently the iPhone 14 Plus) tend to come in brighter colors compared to the more modest choices available in the Pro models. Several popular models tend to appear every year: there are always black and white models as well as [product] red iPhones. (For the iPhone Pro, the most popular colors are gold, silver, graphite or black, with a fourth option changing from year to year.

The iPhone colors have another feature: since iPhone 12, Apple has introduced at least one new color in the spring, as with this year's yellow iPhone 14. iPhone 12 and 12 mini now have a purple option. iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini now come in green, and Alpine Green has been added to the iPhone 13 Pro.

One thing about spring colors: these spring colors will not be used in the new iPhones released the following fall. In other words, that new shade of yellow will not affect the color of the iPhone 15.

To date, only one rumor regarding iPhone 15 colors is fairly well-founded: 9to5Mac (opens in new tab) cites a source claiming that the iPhone 15 Pro will feature a dark red color option. This particular shade would replace the deep purple color available on the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.

The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max colors may be different from the past few years, given other rumors regarding these two models. Allegedly, Apple is switching from stainless steel to titanium for the iPhone 15 Pro, and that new material could affect the colors Apple uses for the Pro phones. The titanium Apple Watch is available in silver and black and could be a color candidate for the iPhone 15 Pro.

The iPhone 15 colors are a bit simpler. The same 9to5Mac report as before claims that light blue and pink are being tested as possible options for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. As described, the former option is essentially a sky blue color shade, while the latter has a bubblegum pink appearance.

If light blue and pink are chosen for the iPhone 15, they would blend nicely with the Midnight, Starlight, and [product] Red that are likely to return from previous iPhone models.

It is premature to say definitively which colors will appear on the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro this fall. Current rumors about colors seem solid enough, but Apple has been known to change its mind depending on how prototypes and production progresses.

That said, assuming that the iPhone 15 will be available in five colors, like its predecessor, we like the idea of a light blue and pink iPhone joining the Midnight, Starlight, and [Product Red] options. Similarly, the silver and black iPhone 15 Pro models will no doubt be joined by the rumored dark red. It remains to be seen whether Apple will keep the gold color on the Pro phones or reduce the color options for the new models to three colors.