Apple’s MacBook Pro is one of the most popular laptops on the market. It comes in two sizes – 13 inches and 16 inches – and is available in three color options: silver, space gray, and midnight black. However, one color option that has never been offered for the MacBook Pro is gold. In this article, we’ll explore the possible reasons why Apple has not released a gold version of the MacBook Pro.
The Apple Product Color Strategy
First, it’s important to understand Apple’s overall strategy when it comes to product colors. For most of their devices, like the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, Apple has historically offered color options that are relatively neutral and subdued. Bright, flashy colors are reserved for lower-cost items like iPhone cases and watch bands. The MacBook Pro’s current silver, gray, and black color options align with this conservative approach.
Gold, on the other hand, is seen as more of a bold, luxury color. And Apple generally reserves gold for its highest end, aspirational products – namely the iPhone and Apple Watch Edition models that cost several thousand dollars. Adding a gold option for the MacBook Pro wouldn’t really fit with how Apple strategically uses color across its product lines. Gold is reserved for products where the color signals luxury status, which isn’t the role of the MacBook Pro in Apple’s ecosystem.
Product Continuity
Another reason why the MacBook Pro doesn’t come in gold is that Apple values continuity across its product generations. Major design changes usually come along with a full product refresh. For example, when the MacBook Pro was redesigned in 2016 to be thinner with a Touch Bar, new color options of silver, space gray, and rose gold were introduced.
But in between major redesigns, Apple tends to keep colors consistent from one generation to the next. The rose gold option was eventually replaced by midnight black in 2019. But besides that change, the color options for the current MacBook Pro models have stayed the same since the 2016 redesign. Adding a new color like gold would go against Apple’s pattern of product continuity between redesigns.
| Year | MacBook Pro Colors |
|---|---|
| 2016 Redesign | Silver, Space Gray, Rose Gold |
| 2019 | Silver, Space Gray, Midnight Black |
| 2020-Present | Silver, Space Gray, Midnight Black |
Difficulties Matching Gold Aluminum Finish
From a manufacturing standpoint, adding a gold color for the MacBook Pro brings some challenges. Apple noted this back in 2015 when a gold option was rumored but didn’t end up being offered for the MacBook Pro:
“Apple says it’s difficult to match gold aluminum precisely across product lines, which is why the company went with silver, space gray, and rose gold for the iPhone and iPad but not for the Apple Watch.”
The aluminum unibody construction of the MacBook Pro makes it difficult to achieve a consistent gold color and finish compared to products like the iPhone with a gold stainless steel frame. The anodization process for coloring aluminum can result in subtle variations between product generations. Rather than deal with that inconsistency, Apple elected not to offer gold for the MacBook Pro.
Target User Base Prefers Subdued Colors
The MacBook Pro’s target user base of professionals and power users also aligns more with muted color options versus bright, flashy colors. Creative pros like photographers, designers, and video editors likely prefer their expensive laptop to have a subdued, neutral aesthetic. Very few professionals probably want or need a gold MacBook Pro.
On the other hand, consumer-focused products like the iPhone have a broader target demographic that values personal style and self-expression. For those users, offering color options like gold makes more sense than it does for the MacBook Pro audience.
No Customer Demand for Gold
Finally, it seems there simply hasn’t been significant consumer demand for a gold MacBook Pro. Apple watches industry trends extremely closely. If Apple’s market research showed that a gold MacBook Pro would lead to substantially increased sales and revenue, they would likely offer it as an option. But the fact that a gold version has never been launched despite years of customer feedback opportunities suggests demand is too low to justify the added production complexity.
That lack of demand also lines up with the analysis of the MacBook Pro target user base. Creative professionals prioritize performance and reliability over aesthetic considerations like color. While some consumers might think a gold MacBook is stylish, the core MacBook Pro customer base doesn’t appear to care that much about color options.
The Future: Will Gold Ever Come to the MacBook Pro?
Based on Apple’s careful color strategy and the manufacturing challenges, it seems unlikely a gold MacBook Pro option will be offered anytime soon. The only way I could see it happening is if Apple does a complete top-to-bottom redesign of the MacBook Pro in the future.
That would give Apple the opportunity to rethink the product from scratch and potentially add bolder color options to align with the redesign. But as long as the MacBook Pro retains its current general design aesthetic, I think silver, space gray, and black will remain the only colors.
Gold works for products like the Apple Watch Edition because of its luxury cachet and higher price point. And it makes sense for the iPhone because of the wider variety of personal styles among consumers. But for the MacBook Pro, the mature professional user base, manufacturing challenges, and minimal customer demand all add up to no gold option being offered.
Silver, space gray, and black simply fit better with the MacBook Pro’s target audience and aesthetic. So while a flashy gold MacBook Pro may look great to some, don’t expect to see it as a color option from Apple anytime in the near future.
Conclusion
In summary, several factors explain why Apple has never offered a gold color option for the MacBook Pro. Apple reserves gold finishes for aspirational luxury products rather than mainstream items like the MacBook Pro. Manufacturing limitations also make it difficult to produce gold aluminum MacBooks with a consistent finish. Additionally, the professional target user base likely has little interest in a flashy gold laptop color. And there doesn’t appear to be substantial consumer demand to justify adding the complexity of a new color. For these reasons, the iconic MacBook Pro will almost certainly remain restricted to more subdued silver, gray, and black shades for the foreseeable future.