Color psychology is a tremendously studied field. Something as simple as a color can trigger feelings subconsciouslybeing the use of green color in the scenes of the villains of classic Disney one of the best examples. It also depends on our languagebut I feel such a powerful weapon, it is evident that it is used consciously in the marketing and colors of the products. And there is nothing that exemplifies it better than China’s fever for the iPhone 17 Pro.
For one in particular: the orange iPhone.
In short. China is a market with immense potential for companies that want to exploit it. They are simple numbersand Apple has just witnessed what happens when they hit the key. How do they count in Financial TimesIn Apple’s recent financial presentation, Tim Cook welcomed the rebound in iPhone sales in China during the fourth quarter of 2025.
The last and first sections of each year are the strong points of an Apple that usually launches its new devices between September and November of each year, but in the last quarter of 2025 they have experienced something unusual: income of 26,000 million dollars, marking a growth of 38% year-on-year in China and accounting for a fifth of the company’s total income. Taking into account the continuity in terms of specifications and fierce competition with Xiaomi, Alive and one Huawei that has returned on its ownit’s… curious. But it seems that the person responsible is none other than one color.
cosmic orange. It is the model we analyzed, clearly the most striking of Apple’s colors for the latest batch of iPhone and the one that is causing a stir in China. Orange is a color that distills energy, happiness and vitality. It is a warm color, and in China it also has a meaning positive related to the vitality of the crops, but also with spirituality and with the association of “orange” and “success” due to the similarity in Mandarin. And it seems like a joke, but it’s not.
As we said, the colors of a device are not chosen at random, and this one has also landed on the right foot in the Asian giant. Nabila Popal, research director of the analyst group IDCnotes in the FT that “it sounds simple, but iPhone sales respond to obvious external changes in the design, which include the introduction of a garish orange color.”
Viral. But it is no longer that Chinese consumers are buying the orange iPhone because it symbolizes that vitality, but because it symbolizes status. The shade of Apple’s ‘Cosmic Orange’ is very, very similar to the classic Hermès Orange, a luxury brand with which Apple itself has collaborated on some occasions (for Apple Watch straps, for example).
It is something that has made the orange iPhone Pro transcend: from being a premium range phone to a luxury accessory. And of course, it is only in the most expensive model, the Pro, which increases that even more. perception to have a luxury accessory. “Choosing orange means that everyone knows that you are using the latest iPhone. It is a statement of identity,” said an influencer in one of the -many- unboxings of the orange iPhone that are seen on Chinese networks.
Beyond color. Aside from the fact that color has had an impact on the sale of iPhones in China during the last period, the interesting thing is that Apple has managed to turn the tables. It has presented its strongest quarter since the first of 2022, the year in which it stood out and which has been followed by three periods of dcadence compared to national competition. Huawei, in particular, was very strong after recovering from the US veto and starting to launch high-end mobile phones again, this time with home-made chips.
Apple should not be too amused about calling the orange iPhone “the Hermès iPhone,” but seeing how viral it is, it’s not like this mix of identities should be a headache in Cupertino. Now the question is whether they will start launching other devices and models in orange to try their luck in China… or if they will withdraw it, leaving the color as an exclusive to the iPhone 17.
It wouldn’t be the first time.
Image | Xataka
In Xataka | For Apple, the price of its iPhones was sacred. Until it began to fall into the void in China
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