Apple’s color philosophy: Is gold really made for Asia?

Apple first launched the gold iPhone 5s, then the gold iPad, and then the gold MacBook. Apple has changed its past aesthetics and has recently been very keen on gold.

Apple is sending a clear message here, which is luxury. Does this mean that the American aesthetic has returned to the 1980s, when everyone from the wealthy middle class to street hustlers liked to wear layers of gaudy gold jewelry? I don't think so.

Although the first batch of iPhone 5s sold out quickly after it was released, you will find that the purchase of gold iPhones is often buyers who like novelty and nouveau riche, rather than fashion-conscious luxury consumers.

"Gold products are not very popular in the U.S. right now," said Jeff Carvalho, executive editor of Highsnobiety, a New York-based website that tracks fashion and consumer trends. "There are very few people around me who like to wear gold Apple Watches. Most of them wear stainless steel Apple Watches."

But why are Apple designers so keen on gold recently?

To find out the answer, we have to mention Asia.

A Brief History of Apple Colors

Before gold came along, Apple products were usually available in three colors: black (iPhone/iPad), silver (MacBook), and color (iPhone 5C/multiple iPods/iMac). However, the recent launch of the new MacBook has solidified the dominance of silver, space gray, and gold in Apple product color matching.

As mentioned earlier, the iPhone 5s, which was launched in 2013, was Apple's first attempt at using gold. Many people were very surprised by this appearance. Of course, some people believed Apple's decision and thought it was another bold design experiment. But in fact, no one could explain why this color, which is often considered ostentatious in the United States, suddenly became one of the colors of Apple's leading products.

Soon after, in 2014, Apple introduced more gold products: the gold iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3. Since then, silver, space gray and black have become the standard colors for Apple's high-end products.

At the same time, Apple's low-end products have more color options. The iPhone 5C is available in five colors: blue, green, pink, yellow and white. The iPod Touch is available in six colors: pink, yellow, blue, silver, gray and red. The iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle are available in eight colors: gray, silver, pink, yellow, green, blue, purple and red.

The lower the end of the product, the more color options there are, and the more expensive the product, the fewer color options there are.

Apple unveiled the gold MacBook on March 9, 2015

Apple has never explained the color philosophy behind its products, but from what we've seen in recent months, it's not hard to imagine a very candid Apple retail store employee telling you something like this: If you really like Apple products, pick one of the three colors: silver, gray, or gold; if you just want to play around with Apple products, the cheaper fruit-colored ones are more suitable for you.

"I find it completely counterintuitive because gold has been phased out, and I don't understand it," said Hans Neubert, chief creative officer at Frog, the company that designed Apple's early 1980s products.

Asians like gold

About a decade ago, the iMac abandoned its colorful pastels — it had been available in blueberry, strawberry, tangerine, grape, lime, graphite, ruby, sage, snow and indigo — in favor of simple solid colors, an early experiment in color to suit different markets.

Apple designer Jonathan Ive (left) and Apple engineering vice president Jon Rubinstein sit in front of an early iMac computer in March 1999

When the relatively inexpensive, colorful iMac became the "Snow White" and "Graphite" iMac G3 in 2001, Apple finally used the two colors that countless studies have shown to be the most popular with consumers: white and black. Of the two colors, white is the most popular color among American car buyers, according to the DuPont Automotive Color Popularity Report.

Jobs introduces the iMac tablet at the MacWorld Expo in January 2002

In contrast, the all-white flat-panel iMac released in 2002 cost an eye-popping $1,800 (for an iMac at the time).

The iMac has not been Apple's flagship product for many years, but what remains unchanged is that Apple's use of color is still guided by market forces. Besides the fact that mobile products account for the majority of Apple's sales, the only difference now is that Asia has become Apple's target market. Asian consumers have very different preferences for color, especially when it comes to luxury goods.

What are the colors that Asian consumers like most? Take a guess.

Yes, that's gold, silver, and black - these are the new colors for iPhone and iPad, as well as the colors of MacBook and Apple Watch.

A luxury store in Tokyo, Japan

"I used to think of Apple as edgy and interesting, an unconventional company led by an arrogant man whose ideas were always hard for me to understand," Neubert said. "Now they're doing what everyone else is doing. They've become like Samsung. As a consumer, I'm not interested in them because they're no longer exciting."

But the surprise that many of Apple's longtime fans are waiting for may have nothing to do with innovation and everything to do with what Apple does as the world's richest company.

Cook said in a 2013 earnings call that Apple needed to focus on China, Asia's most populous and richest country. His remarks were not a diplomatic gesture, but an emphasis on Apple's efforts to win over a market of 1.3 billion consumers.

China is Apple's fastest-growing market, with the company earning $16 billion in revenue from the Greater China market in the first fiscal quarter of this year. Financial analysts predict that China will soon surpass Europe to become Apple's second-largest market.

After China, the wealthiest country in East Asia is Japan. What colors do Japanese consumers most often associate with luxury goods? Unsurprisingly, gold, black and silver.

A survey report jointly released by Japanese market research company Intage and the Japan Color and Design Research Institute in 2013 showed that these three colors are the colors of luxury goods in the eyes of consumers in countries such as China, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam.

The survey's findings are not surprising to those who live in or do business with East Asia, where gold is often associated with wealth. China and Japan also call their mini-holidays, which are meant to boost tourism and consumption, "Golden Week."

In September 2014, consumers walked along an aisle paved with 606 gold bricks in a shopping mall to promote consumption during the Golden Week.

American consumers may find these gold-colored gadgets too ostentatious, but Apple's gold products have been a huge success in this fastest-growing market. After Apple launched the iPhone 5s in 2013, the Wall Street Journal reported that "demand for the gold 5s is so strong in mainland China and Hong Kong that Apple has asked its suppliers to speed up production of the model."

While some will scoff at business reports that proclaim that “Asia’s century has arrived,” Apple doesn’t doubt it.

The color of luxury

A recent HSBC report titled "The Global Shoppers" predicts that China alone accounts for a third of global luxury sales, a share that will continue to grow in the coming years. Apple clearly believes that the key to future growth is catering to Asia's luxury seekers.

"Apple is entering a golden age of sales in China and will make a lot of money from its dominance in the market," said Savio S. Chan, co-author of "China's Super Consumers." "In China, the two most festive colors are red and gold. But if a successful Chinese man holds a red iPhone 6, it would look quite funny, so gold has become the most suitable color for high-end smartphones."

While the Chinese preference for gold explains Apple’s obsession with gold, some observers were still surprised that Apple would release a $10,000 gold smartwatch. They needn’t have been surprised. In 2011, Chinese consumers bought nearly 30 percent of Swiss watches, with sales of $5.9 billion, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. Apple wants a piece of the action. And China’s obsession with gold isn’t a whim: A few years ago, one company even set up a gold ATM in Beijing.

In 2013, China overtook India as the world’s largest gold consumer (although India recently reclaimed the top spot), and the World Gold Council says Chinese demand for gold will rise by 20% by 2017.

From the color of its products to the materials they are made of, Apple will make gold one of the core elements of its design.

A shop assistant displays gold iPhone accessories in Qingdao in 2012.

Neubert, who wears a minimalist Junghans analog watch designed by Max Bill, believes the Apple Watch will be successful, but he also wonders how Apple's new choice of color will affect the company.

"People want to be surprised by Apple," Neubert said. "I seem to have lost faith in the brand, but I still like Apple products. But I think if Apple relies on gold or gold products to attract consumers, they will lose those consumers who want to be surprised by Apple because they do things that we can predict."

That may be true. Apple had a powerful mystique under Jobs, who was also keen on launching magical new products. But all that may be a thing of the past. Cook and Ive's job is to get more people using Apple products and making money. Although they have great business and design acumen, they don't have Jobs' ability to surprise us.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.