Historically, Apple has tried to boost iPhone sales with fresh new colors in the middle of the iPhone's first year and just around the launch of Samsung's latest flagship. Last March's iPhone 13 featured a shade of green, while April 2021's iPhone 12 featured a bright purple hue.

Now Macotakara (opens in new tab) reports that Apple will refresh the iPhone 14 this week with fresh new colors.

So what will join the existing five iPhone 14 colors? It will reportedly be yellow, Apple's first sun-like hue since the iPhone 11 in 2019.

The green tint was used for both the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro (the latter has a fancy-sounding "Alpine Green"), but this report suggests that this new shade is exclusive to the regular iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus

This new shade will be available for the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus.

A briefing to introduce these new colors will be held this week, the site reports, and given that the iPhone 14 was released 170 days ago, it seems like a sensible time to once again promote the sales of the current model and the upcoming iPhone 15, as they are now quite close to the halfway point.

Furthermore, there is no doubt that Apple is willing to steal at least a little thunder from the launch of Samsung's Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 Plus.

To be sure, few people will suddenly be inclined to buy an iPhone thanks to the new colors. But glamorizing the lineup can help draw attention to the device even after six months have passed since its launch and the initial shine has worn off a bit.

But if it is true that no new shades will be available for the iPhone 14 Pro series, it is probably a sign of the contrasting fortunes of Apple's two handset tiers.

According to display analyst Ross Young, the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max accounted for 64% of iPhone 14 sales in November, up from 51% in the iPhone 13 era. Put another way, they accounted for only 36% of sales this time around, compared to 49% last time.

Given how limited an upgrade the iPhone 14 is, it may be no surprise - as we have written before, it makes sense to buy a discounted iPhone 13 Pro instead.

In short, the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max handsets probably do not need extra sales help. However, it remains to be seen if the yellow hue will give the iPhone 14 Plus the boost it needs.