AC/DC declared they were Back in Black in 1980, but if a certain insider is right, Apple won’t be following those lyrics in 2026. According to anonymous leaker Instant Digital, the iPhone 18 Pro, Apple’s new flagship phone, likely to be released in September, will not be available in black. That would be the second straight year that black has not been a shade option for the company’s premier phone.

The tidbit was posted on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform, and was short and to the point. 

“It looks like the black color option for the iPhone 18 Pro has been axed again. That’s a bummer,” wrote Instant Digital, as translated by Google from Chinese to English.

Instant Digital is the name used by a China-based insider who, according to MacRumors, has a solid track record of rumors turning out to be true. They were correct about the launch of the 2023 yellow iPhone 14 and the frosted back glass on the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus.

More on CNET: Boring Phone Designs, Begone. I’m Seeing a New Wave of Fresh Looks for 2026

A representative for Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Black was available on every flagship iPhone since the first one was released in 2007, but not for the iPhone 17 Pro released last year. Variations have included space gray, graphite, space black and black titanium.

Despite last year’s colors, this doesn’t mean Apple won’t sometimes choose bold colors. As CNET reported in February, Apple could be toying with a deep red iPhone 18 Pro.

In that report, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said Apple might be spurred on by the success of the iPhone 17 Pro’s orange.

“As of now, red is the new flagship color in testing for the next iPhone Pros,” Gurman said.

We might not know which colors the iPhone 18 Pro will come in, but we do know some things, according to various leaks: the Dynamic Island might shrink, the cameras might have a variable aperture and the battery might be bigger. 

And maybe the key point in these tough economic times: no price increase (fingers crossed).

‘Batman won’t be happy’

Some Reddit users weren’t overly happy with the report that the iPhone 18 Pro won’t be available in black. On the r/apple subreddit, comments leaned toward critical.

“Batman won’t be happy,” wrote Beercules1993. 

There’s definitely a rationale behind how Apple selects iPhone colors, though the company doesn’t openly explain why it picks certain shades over others. 

“We look at things like the design of the phone itself, how it’s going to look with color, [and] how do those materials take color,” said Kaiann Han Drance, Apple vice president of iPhone marketing, in an interview last fall. “What do we want to express with the lineup that year?”