Pink has been my favorite color since some point during high school. I can’t remember when my taste shifted from hating it to loving it, but it did, and it hasn’t changed since. I am often frustrated with the lack of color options available for electronic devices, especially because having grown up in the 90s, I was surrounded by things with many different and bold color options for a long time.

While I can write a whole blog post on how much I hate that pink is a gendered color to most people, I’ll just say that because of that fact, the inherent misogyny that encompasses tech, marketing, sales, etc. really shines through here. There have been some recent improvements, like Sony’s Nova Pink accessories for the PS5, but overall we have a long way to go.

My biggest gripe is with cell phone manufacturers. Cell phones have almost become a necessity, and yet despite that so many people have them, they have the most boring color selections of any devices I’ve seen. Often when brands do decide to do a “pink,” it ends up being Not Actually Pink™.

I’ll give Google credit that the color of the Pixel 3 (furthest right in the top row) was actually called “Not Pink.” At least they were honest!

Now some of the colors above are not the worst things I’ve ever seen, but they’re all so bland. They just scream “we have no creativity” to me. Clearly they’re meant to give the illusion of better options, but they’re better options in the most conservative way possible. These neutral pink options feel very much like brands don’t want to step outside of the lines that will alienate their sexist and insecure male customers. I can only imagine the comments, pearl clutching, and literal outrage that’d come from that demographic should a phone be released without the option to buy it in white, black, or gray.

Google recently unveiled their new generation of Pixel phones, the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro. Both tiers have a pink color available, which was incredibly surprising to me, given the aforementioned “Not Pink” thing with the Pixel 3.

I wanted to see what they looked like in every day light vs. the light box, so I checked out some videos on YouTube (my first mistake!). This entire post was inspired by an Android Authority reviewer, who while discussing the Peony color, said:

It’s going to take a pretty adventurous person to want to get this color […]

Upon hearing that, my eyes rolled so hard they fell out of my head. I’m sorry that you are so bland and boring that mint green and watermelon pink offend your tasteless sensibilities, Mr. Generic White Man. It must be so difficult to live life when everything is catered specifically to you and others like you! For people who like pink, and this includes people of all/no genders, and some of whom may describe themselves as adventurous while others may not, this is a welcome change that I hope we see more of. If we have to use these things for years, why can’t we get them in colors we actually like?

There’s always going to be some bozo coming out of the woodwork to say, “You’re going to keep it in a case anyway, so just buy a pink case!” Just like the phone manufacturers, case makers for phones that are more prevalent with “power users” pull the same conservative crap. I have an iPhone 15 Pro Max and my favorite cases are Speck’s Presidio Grip cases. I had to get the phone in white because I hated the other options, and I can’t even get that case in a color I like. The color icon may look pink, but the case is a pastel purple with with dirty rose gold buttons… I definitely did not buy one. If you were to buy the new Pixels, your only options for that case are blue and black; they don’t even have an option to match the Rose Quartz and Peony phones, which is asinine.

Some other know-it-all will come out with, “Well, just buy a skin and use a clear case!” Dbrand is probably the best known skin maker, and they have one single pink option for the iPhone 15 Pro Max. It’s no different for the base iPhone 15 that can be purchased in a light pastel pink. It’s not a bad pink, at least it looks pink unlike some of the examples above, but one pink option alongside at least 20 black, gray, and white options is a complete joke.

The upcoming iPhone 16 Pro models are rumored to be coming in a color called rose, but the leaks I’ve seen suggest that it’s going to be more of a bronze color (what variety of roses come in bronze?!). It’s a shame because the iPhone 15 having a light pink option was promising, but I’m not holding my breath that they’ll go any bolder this year, and especially not with the Pro models.

Editing to add: There was a leak of the alleged colors of the iPhone 16 Pro models, it’s unclear if it’s fake or real, but it does confirm the bronze rumors. If this is indeed the color and they name it rose, they’re totally bonkers.

I beg of somebody to please continue to produce bold pink color options for things, even if they are made to order. Stop trying to sell us the boring and generic shade of white with a couple of drops of red in it as some groundbreaking and inclusive offering, and turn the saturation up.