Apple has been selling the iPod for almost 20 years now, and a lot has changed over time. But there is something that remains the same: The headphones are still white. From 3.5mm EarPods to Lightning EarPods, AirPods to AirPods Pro: Apple has always stuck to its favorite color.
But why? Why does Apple sell iPods, iPhones, Apple Watches, iPads, Macs and now even colorful iMacs, but not headphones in the ear?
Design has always played an important role for Apple. The company wants to sell unique products that people can recognize right away. This is one of the reasons why Apple used to put the illuminated logo on its MacBooks, so that you can identify the brand of the laptop from a distance.
However, when Apple introduced the iPod in 2001, the company ran into a major problem: How will people on the streets know someone is using an iPod if they have it in their pocket? Apple found the solution with headphones. You may not see the iPod when someone is using it, but you can see the headphones.
However, the headphones they’re too small to have a visible Apple logo on them. How else could the company make them easily identifiable?
The point is, 20 years ago most headphones were black. Apple therefore decided to design the iPod and the headphones exactly the opposite: in white. You may still remember an old iPod commercial in which figures were dancing with white headphones: Here, too, Apple wanted to focus not only on the iPod, but also on white headphones.
Will Apple break the tradition?
Obviously there are now some exceptions. An obvious example is the very expensive AirPods Max, which Apple released last year and which are available in a total of five different colors: black, silver, blue, green, and red. Now the design is so easily identifiable that Apple didn’t have to resort to the color trick.
And if we include the Beats, there are even more headphones in the ears available colors. The new Beats Studio Buds are available in red and black. And also in white, of course.
But will Apple start selling its own headphones? in the ear in another color than white? Will the new AirPods be available in black, or even red or green? Or will they just stay white?
It is too early to tell. But what is certain is that Apple is a much more colorful company than it was 20 years ago.
Original article published in Macwelt.
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