Next Week's Launch of 'iPhone 13'... Will We Miss the 'Rose Gold' Color?

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] The specific six colors of Apple’s new product ‘iPhone 13,’ set to be unveiled next week, have been leaked. The much-anticipated Rose Gold color does not appear to be included.

On the 9th (local time), IT specialist media 91mobiles cited a Ukrainian website to reveal the colors and storage capacities of the iPhone 13 series by model.

According to 91mobiles, the iPhone 13 and ‘iPhone 13 Mini’ are expected to be available in six colors: Black, Blue, Purple, Pink, White, and Red, while the ‘iPhone 13 Pro’ and ‘iPhone 13 Pro Max’ will likely offer four color options: Black, Silver, Gold, and Bronze.

The Rose Gold color, which attracted attention, does not seem to be included for now. However, earlier render images of the Rose Gold color were released by foreign media such as LetsGoDigital, and there remains a possibility that the model introduced as Gold might actually be Rose Gold. Apple introduced the Rose Gold color with the ‘iPhone 6S’ released in 2015 and the ‘iPhone 7’ in 2016, but the Rose Gold color has not been released on iPhones for four years since then.

iPhone 13 Rose Gold Expected Rendering [Source: LetsGoDigital]

Meanwhile, the storage capacities listed alongside the colors are expected to be 64GB and 128GB for the iPhone 13 Mini, 128GB and 256GB for the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro, and 256GB and 512GB for the iPhone 13 Pro Max.

Earlier, Apple announced through an invitation sent to the media on the 7th that it will hold a special event at its headquarters in Cupertino, California, USA, on the 14th and will livestream the event. The iPhone 13 series is expected to consist of four models: the base model iPhone 13 (6.1 inches), iPhone 13 Mini (5.4 inches), iPhone 13 Pro (6.1 inches), and iPhone 13 Pro Max (6.7 inches), similar to its predecessor.

The battery capacities for this series are ▲iPhone 13 Mini 2406mAh ▲iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro 3095mAh ▲iPhone 13 Pro Max 4352mAh. With larger batteries, the weight may increase slightly. The iPhone 13 series supports 25-watt (W) fast charging but, like its predecessor, does not include a charger.

The iPhone 13 is expected to have relatively minor changes compared to its predecessor. In terms of design, the notch size is expected to shrink or disappear, and there is speculation about the inclusion of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication functionality, which would enable emergency satellite communication in areas where cellular network connection is difficult. Camera performance is also expected to improve, including the addition of an ultra-wide lens. The application processor (AP) will be equipped with the 5-nanometer process-based ‘A15 Bionic’ chip, Apple’s latest self-designed chip.

There are also expectations that the retail price may be similar to or slightly lower than the previous model. This is because there are relatively few differentiating features, and competitor Samsung Electronics has introduced aggressive pricing policies this year. Samsung lowered the retail price of the ‘Galaxy S21’ to under 1 million KRW for the first time for a 5G flagship smartphone earlier this year, and both the flagship foldable phones ‘Galaxy Z Flip3’ and ‘Galaxy Z Fold3’ were launched at prices more than 400,000 KRW cheaper than their predecessors in the second half of the year.

Meanwhile, Apple has raised prices every year since launching the iPhone in 2007. Earlier, the US IT media PhoneArena predicted prices of ▲iPhone 13 Mini at $699 (approximately 820,000 KRW) ▲iPhone 13 at $799 (approximately 930,000 KRW) ▲iPhone 13 Pro at $999 (approximately 1,170,000 KRW) ▲iPhone 13 Pro Max at $1,099 (approximately 1,290,000 KRW), which are the same as the previous iPhone 12 series retail prices.