The new iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max are officially on sale and start at $1,099 and $1,199, respectively. The phones feature a new unibody redesign, a new telephoto camera, an updated screen and a larger battery.
The iPhone 17 Pro is also available in some fresh and eye-catching colors, including silver, dark blue and cosmic orange. Black, space gray and white are now passé. The new innovative colors have some people scratching their heads, and others falling in love.
Say goodbye to titanium metal finishes, and hello to a new orange color that’s as divisive as it is bold. Its hue makes it double as a road hazard warning sign, and that’s one reason not everyone is a fan.
“Apple may be calling it ‘cosmic orange,’ but there’s absolutely nothing heavenly about it,” according to CNET’s Macy Meyer.
Rival phone makers like Motorola are also experimenting with divisive colors and alternatives to a glass back (you can get the Motorola Razr with a wood back). It seems here that in response to criticism about its mostly colorless titanium finishes on recent Pro iPhone models, Apple is now offering a color you can’t ignore.
The Motorola Razr Ultra comes in a variety of material backs and colors including Pantone cabaret (hot pink).
As I was testing the iPhone 17 Pro Max for my review, the bold, bright orange drew multiple “Is that the new iPhone?” inquiries from passersby.
But is an orange iPhone not what we need right now, as my colleague argues? Will it look less appealing when we hit next year?
“Bold colors can work. Ferrari red? Iconic. Deep midnight blue? Elegant. I even really like the iPhone 15 that’s Barbie pink,” Meyer writes. “But fluorescent traffic-sign orange? That’s a statement that’ll look like a seasonal prop left over from Halloween exactly three months from now.”
To show you just how orange the iPhone 17 Pro Max is, we snapped pictures of it next to as many orange things as I could find.
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I tested the iPhone 17 Pro Max in cosmic orange and noticed how close the color was to other orange items, like pumpkins.
Admittedly our oranges look more like lemons, but here is the cosmic orange iPhone 17 Pro Max with the fruit of the same name.
How would you describe the 17 Pro Max’s orange color? Like Sunkist? Or a more of a muted Fanta?
Taco Bell or the iPhone 17 Pro Max? Yo quiero Taco Bell.
This anthology of short plays, including one by yours truly, is the closet orange to the iPhone 17 Pro Max’s cosmic orange.
The cosmic orange iPhone 17 Pro Max is not quite Cheetos orange.
Depending on the light, the Ceramic Shield cutout can sometimes look lighter than the rest of the 17 Pro Max’s body.
It turns out that the orange Starburst candy is very similar to the iPhone 17 Pro Max’s cosmic orange. Perhaps an Apple designer was snacking on Starburst candies while coming up with the color.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max in cosmic orange isn’t close to the shade of orange that Cheez-It crackers are.
For more about the new Pro phone, check out my iPhone 17 Pro Max review. And if you’re curious about the other phones Apple released, read our iPhone Air review and our in-depth look at the iPhone 17.
