If you look back on the history of Apple’s iPhone models, you won’t find many kind words for the iPhone 5c, which most consider to be one of the company’s worst.
However, there’s one thing about the iPhone 5c that Tom’s Guide Phones Editor Philip Michaels hopes will have some influence on what Apple has planned for this fall’s iPhone 16 lineup. Here’s his take.
I liked the iPhone 5c
I am an outlier here. I owned an iPhone 5c and loved it, though I will admit that if fans of the iPhone 5c were to hold a reunion, we wouldn’t need to rent out a very big meeting space.
The complaints about the iPhone 5c centered on its cheap-feeling plastic back — and its paltry 8GB base storage, which was laughable by 2013 standards. It was also inferior to the iPhone 5s, which was released at the same time, cost $100 more and had significantly better specs.
All fair points, I admit. But there is one criticism I will not abide. And that’s about the iPhone 5c’s colors; I thought they were great.
Not everyone agreed with me on that point. Some argued that the colors were too bright and that the combination of them with the polycarbonate back made the iPhone 5c look more like a toy than a serious smartphone.
Yes, the iPhone 5c colors were bright and vibrant — and that was the whole point. In a world of phones that came in mostly muted color options, the iPhone 5c stood out with its rainbow array of blue, green, yellow and pink.
Everyone can use a little more color in their life, and the iPhone 5c provided that. In a world filled with so many drab and dreary objects, our little iPhone 5c brought a smile to our face.
I don’t know if the reaction to the iPhone 5c scared Apple away from taking a more colorful approach with future iPhones, but it’s clear that subsequent models have been far less vibrant.
On the rare occasions when Apple has introduced some new hues to its lineup, they’ve tended to be dark and muted.
The muted colors on recent iPhones.
Why do iPhone colors matter?
As I write this, I’m staring at three different iPhones — a green iPhone 12, a pink iPhone 13 and a blue iPhone 15.
That sounds colorful, but in reality these colors have been muted to the point where the blue iPhone 15 could almost pass for white. There’s nothing bold or eye-catching about any of them.
Which brings us to the iPhone 16 and its potential palette. The good news is that the iPhone 16 color rumors so far suggest we’ll be getting more options when they arrive this September.
Supposedly, the white and purple will join the five existing iPhone 15 colors for this year’s handsets. Unfortunately, I suspect they’ll be more of the muted shades Apple currently favors rather than the brighter iPhone 5c-style colors.
That doesn’t have to be the case. Combine the more sophisticated materials Apple uses in its current phones with the bright colors of the iPhone 5c, and I don’t think people would be turning up their noses like they did over a decade ago. I think they’d appreciate the more vibrant look on their phones.
In an era when Apple already seems intent on further differentiating the iPhone Pro models from the standard iPhones, it makes sense for Apple to go bold with the iPhone colors. Leave the muted shades to the iPhone 16 Pro and give the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus their own lively flair.
Apple has made it pretty clear what kind of design scheme it prefers for its phones in recent years, so I don’t expect a sudden wave of iPhone 5c nostalgia to hit Cupertino. Still, one can hope that a brighter future lies ahead for the iPhone — at least when it comes to the color options Apple provides.
