Is the "Desert Titanium" iPhone 16 Pro gold or copper? No one can agree but it really matters TODAY!

Apple traditionally introduces a new color which is iconic for a phone release and, for the iPhone 16, that shade is "Desert Titanium" – but it's causing a lot of discussion and even agonizing among potential buyers. Is it more gold, or copper? 

Why does this matter so much? It is especially important to the early adopters who will rush to be the first to pick up the new handsets, people aren't sure they'll like it in the flesh but typically if you want the phone first you need to pre-order the phone from Apple in the first few minutes to be first in the queue to pick up, or have to wait for stock.

Pre-orders will begin today the 13th of September at 13:00 UK, 5:00AM Pacific, 8:00AM Eastern.

For a few precious hours people can only go on the pictures from Apple and the videos and images from people who have actually held pre-release phones.

If you don't get your pre-order in in the first few minutes, you might find yourself waiting a couple of weeks, at least, for the most popular combination of memory and color.

Personally I think a more copper look would be quite stylish and modern, while marking my phone out as new and of this generation, while gold feels a bit closer to jewellery, which tempts me less, so I can understand why this matters to people. There wasn't a gold iPhone 15 Pro – the first Titanium generation – and many consumers love the precious metal, so there is a lot of pent-up demand.

Apple has also produced "rose gold" products in the past, and the New Yorker was among the first to explain how the tech giant made a savvy choice in marketing. A traditional jewellery method – "rose gold" – which involves mixing copper in alloy for a pinker look – became a tempting choice for many consumers (and even a potential subject of a femininity in tech debate!)

Just talking about copper, though, which has a different appeal – more industrial chic – is intriguing, and a lot of Apple's images do look quite copper – just look at the iPhone 16 at the header to this story – but then others don't.

None of this is helped by people's hands-on experience. Commentators so far have reported the Desert Titanium iPhone 16 Pro "looks different as the light hits it from different angles." Great.

Ray Wong says it "looks more gold (and sometimes pink) I TOLD you guys it wouldn’t look like poop brown or bronze or copper or anything like the leaked dummies!" 

That's two different-looking videos and assessments of the color from two different people in the same room at the same time!

It's also worth noting that Apple has often produced a mid-cycle additional color for phones – perhaps that's when we'll see a true copper-look, or even a more interesting color for the iPhone 16 Pro.

It perhaps means everyone should look for the best monitor calibrators and best camera calibration tools, but, sadly, given texture is clearly a factor some might simply need to wait until the 20th when the phone is shipping.

I'm not sure, but taking Apple's press image and putting it against a pink/purple background pushes me a little toward the view that it leans toward the 'rose gold' tradition (but a little more subtle) more than the copper. The only thing that is clear, though, is that this isn't clear – and will drive folks to get their hands on the real thing.

Frustratingly the Apple Watch 10, also introduced at the Glowtime event, does feature an explicit 'Rose Gold' option (in aluminium) and a (polished) 'Gold Titanium'. Neither matches directly, of course, since the iPhone 16 Pro does not feature a polished edge like the iPhone 13 or iPhone 14 Pro, so the photos don't provide a great comparison.