Apple unveiled the pin – *cough* Rose Gold iPhone 6s earlier this year, and I noticed a myriad of women on Twitter making a fuss about it, and how gorgeous it looks. I also noticed a myriad of men grumbling subtly, thinking about the huge amounts they’d have to shell out soon (February isn’t that far away, if you think about it).
Thing is, Rose Gold, as I know it, is an alloy of gold and copper, and not a shade of pink Apple is passing it off as. I understand that there is no consistency as far as device colours go with Apple (you can hardly call their gold iPhones gold, and they keep changing their mind about what Space Grey really means), but this misnomer seems more like a ploy to protect fragile hyper-masculinity than anything else.
Is it gay to get the rose gold iPhone ?? Lol
— Shomari (@Clutch_Mari) September 12, 2015
Not that I’m complaining or anything.
Let’s look at the bigger picture. Do device manufacturers seriously consider product colours, when designing for the male demographic? Should they?
In the PC gaming market, high end manufacturers typically offer extensive aesthetic customisation, up to internal colouring, granite bases (believe it or not), to even custom airbrushed art on their casings. Game consoles, typically targeted at men, have a rather large complimentary market for console skins and stickers.
I, for one, am a lot more concerned with the trade-off between performance and portability, than anything else, but as a final check, before taking a device decision, I think about colour very seriously. Before making a purchase, I obsessively research all the devices on my list, every single component, possible negative side effects, compatibility with my current gear, ergonomics, battery life, resale value, etc. I then begin to pick which compromises I can make (and live with), and which ones are deal breakers, till I narrow my list to just 2 or 3 options, before selecting based on trivial things like colour and thickness. I think a lot of what happens though, is colour avoidance, not colour selection, where any ‘feminine’ colours – whatever that means – are generally frowned upon.
And many men agree with me.
Having a preferred colour, is a consumer demand that transcends both gender and sexual orientation.
Here’s what Twitter had to say.
Men. This is for work. Do you care about the color of your devices?
— osarumen (@skweird) November 15, 2015
Photo Credit: Techstage via Compfight cc
