Detailed documents must be submitted to the United States Federal Communications Commission for any smartphone manufacturer bringing out a new device for the US market. The same went for Apple’s iPhone X in the September of 2017. But to our surprise, the prototype shown in the documents features a soft and beautiful golden-hued iPhone X from several angles that never hit the market.
The gold shade of the iPhone X used to showcase the model’s features and dimensions seem similar to that of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus in the same colorway.
According to several other documents, Apple’s preparation for FCC filing finished in July. Therefore, the photos from the production stage must date several months earlier than the unveiling of the iPhone X in September. Most of the documents used in the filing were made available soon after submission. But external photos and sensitive details came under the six-month confidentiality clause that expired not long ago.
Therefore, Apple’s initial plan was to release the iPhone X in three colors – gold, silver, and space gray. The gold color option must have been shelved ahead of release due to production issues.
Before the launch, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo had said that Apple had problems regarding the manufacturing of a “Blush Gold” iPhone X. He had then suggested in September that the gold version might be launched later to afford Apple some time to fix the issues.
It may be possible that the stainless steel frame of the proposed gold iPhone X was causing problems that didn’t happen in the case of the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, which came in Aluminium casings. Finally, Apple released the iPhone X in silver and gray space.
While it’s still unclear, Apple might introduce the gold version to boost iPhone X’s mid-year sales of iPhone X. If that happens, we could see its debut at the Worldwide Developers Conference.
It could be more logical to introduce the new shade along with the new spring-summer range of Apple Watch bands or even the recently announced Red iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. Apple is probably then going to postpone the unveiling of the new color.
If manufacturing issues have been solved by now, Apple’s 2018 iPhone lineup would come in traditional gold, silver, and space gray options, whether or not Apple releases a gold iPhone X ahead of the debut of the lineup in September.
