Home
News
You are here

Your AirPods could have been a lot more colorful had Apple went with these prototypes

Bored of the white AirPods? Take a look at what could have been.

0comments

By Abdullah Asim

Published: Dec 27, 2025, 5:06 PM

Apple Audio

The Apple AirPods are, popularity aside, actually some of the nicest wireless audio products that you can get for the money, but they’ve always had one very simple problem: color variety. Turns out, Apple once experimented with different color options for the AirPods case, and you can see those alleged prototypes right now.

Colorful AirPods prototypes

A collector, who is known for their ties to Apple products, has posted pictures of canceled AirPods cases in pink and yellow. Apparently, the company was toying with the idea of colorful cases around the time that it first released the AirPods.

Ultimately, however, Apple decided to go with white for everything, and has been making that same decision ever since for each generation of AirPods.

Christmas post Abandoned iPhone 5c colored AirPods 1st gen prototype. #appleinternal pic.twitter.com/Y2wzZTxgLC
— Kosutami (@Kosutami_Ito) December 24, 2025

As seen here, the interior of the case, and the AirPods themselves, were still white. It was just the case that could be bought in different colors.

Apple’s forgotten design philosophy

Prototype AirPods cases in pink and yellow. | Image credit — Kosutami

Had Apple gone with those color options, the company would have expanded on the design of the iPhone 5c. The 5c was, at the time, already a sort of callback to when Apple used to make a lot more colorful products.

Of course, the company abandoned that approach to product design a long, long time ago. Modern Apple products, like the iPhone 17 and the iPhone Air, are slick devices that usually stick to a muted color palette.

Do you miss the colorful Apple of days past?

Yeah, those were better times

42.86%

No, modern Apple products look better

7.14%

I just wish we could have both

50%

I've never liked Apple's designs

14 Votes

We might see a rebound

This might be wishful thinking on my part, and I understand that Apple’s modern design philosophy helps its products stand out in a crowd, but we might actually see a colorful rebound.

Take the iPhone 17 Pro, for example, which got the fiery bright Cosmic Orange color option. Recent iPhone colors like Ultramarine have also provided Apple users less muted ways to express themselves. The AirPods Max headphones are also available in different colors, something that Apple might just expand to its wireless earphones in the near future.

And, last but certainly not least, look at the new upcoming budget MacBook that will be powered by an A-series Apple silicon chip. According to reports, it will break away from tradition and offer much more colorful options like bright blue, pink, and yellow.

So what’s stopping the AirPods?

$30 /mo

$35

New members get $5/mo off the $35/mo Visible+ plan or $5/mo off the $45/mo Visible+ Pro plan for the first 60 months when they port-in from an eligible carrier. Use code 5OFF5 at checkout to save up to $300.

Expired

View Full Bio

Abdullah loves smartphones, Virtual Reality, and audio gear. Though he covers a wide range of news his favorite is always when he gets to talk about the newest VR venture or when Apple sets the industry ablaze with another phenomenal release.

Read the latest from Abdullah Asim