Rose Gold: The rise of 'Bros Gold' and how Apple made it cool to own a pink phone
Alistair Charlton
Finished in Rose Gold, this iPhone SE switches from pink to bronze in different light.
IBTimes UK
In late 2011, I excitedly opened the box of a brand new
iPhone 4S, my first experience of Apple's new, pixel-packed Retina
screen. But, before I'd even switched it on, the phone's white colour
didn't go down well with a colleague who suggested it was the feminine
option. I should have gone for the black one, he said.
Fast-forward almost five years and, with white iPhones and
iPads absolutely everywhere, the attention has turned to Rose Gold.
Metallic pink to the uninformed, Rose Gold is an option on all three
versions of iPhone, the 9.7in iPad Pro, the Watch, and the new MacBook.
In some light it looks like bright pink and in others it's closer to
bronze, just a few shades down from Apple's regular gold option.
The colour, surely ridiculed in the hands of a man
just a few years ago, has spread across Apple's product range even more
quickly than gold did, itself once criticised for being tacky.
In fact, the colour has become so popular with men that
Apple Store staff refer to it as Bros Gold without a hint of irony. Men
are buying pink phones today at an unprecedented rate.
A Reddit thread
does a better job of the men-buying-pink-phones revolution than I ever
could. It begins with "I was thinking of getting a rose gold iPhone but
my friends keep saying it would be too feminine" and is soon flooded
with men (both gay and straight) saying they bought a Rose Gold iPhone
and love it. "Welcome to the Bros in Rose club" one person said.
Apple should be commended here, not just for producing a
shade of pink that straight male consumers want to buy, but also for
avoiding the crushing stereotype many technology companies comply to
when they make a Barbie pink version 'for women'.
I've been using a Rose Gold iPhone SE for two weeks now and,
after first thinking I was being trolled by Apple and reaching for a
masculine black case, I've grown to like it. Often closer to bronze than
pink, it's a genuinely interesting colour which changes a lot depending
on the light and how you hold it. It's a beautiful handset and a colour
which will likely remain equally popular among men and women.
And so I hand it over to you, dear reader. Of the four iPhone SE and iPhone 6S colours, which is your favourite?
Rose Gold: The rise of 'Bros Gold' and how Apple made it cool to own a pink phone
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