The yellow iPhone 14 is here – and we can’t decide if it’s awesome or awful
Apple welcomes a yellow iPhone back to the fold of the smartphone color spectrum. On Tuesday, Apple surprised no one by unveiling its new yellow iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, adding a bright spectrum of colors to our list of the best smartphones.
The canary yellow frame is reminiscent of the yellow last seen on the iPhone 11 and even that iconic iPhone 5c. It’s bold, but not necessarily brash. It’s also not coming to the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.
As I wrote in my reviews of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, these are some excellent iOS devices that didn’t raise the bar in terms of design. Both phones still have the notch instead of the new Dynamic Island. They also use the previous generation A15 Bionic CPU. They’re still excellent handsets with a solid 12MP dual camera array and the excellent 12MP TrueDepth front camera.
Perhaps this new color, which combines midnight, starlight, (Product)RED, blue and purple as a color variation, is the extra spark the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus need to be just a little more inspiring.
You can pre-order a yellow iPhone starting Friday, March 10 at 9am ET in the US, UK, and Australia. The iPhone 14 still starts at $799 / £849 / AU$1,339 (with 128GB of storage) and the iPhone 14 Plus costs $899 / £949 / AU$1,579. Apple will start shipping the yellow iPhones on March 14.
Do we care about yellow?
Humans like choice and can be quite passionate about color, even when it comes to technology. For a while, Apple’s rose gold colored devices were the must-have device. Launched in 2016, the rose gold iPhone 6 was a sensation and a must-have device for fans of the light pink iPhone.
There aren’t many yellow gadgets, unless you’re looking at kid tech. And while we’ve known for a while that Apple probably produced this, there’s no need for the rabid, feverish interest there.
Plus, the yellow iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus do nothing but the blue, purple, or midnight handsets. At (Product)RED, you at least know that Apple also donates to a good cause when you buy the phone.
In any case, it’s just another option to help you match your iPhone 14 with your other, ahem, yellow accessories.