Stop me if you've heard this one:

A: Knock Knock
B: Who's there?
A: Banana
B: Banana who?

Person A then starts over with a fresh “Knock knock” and the loop repeats until finally:

A: Knock Knock
B: Who's there?
A: Orange
B: Orange you glad I didn't say "banana"?

The joke is that Orange sounds kind of like Aren't.

If you’re around nine years old, it’s comedy gold. Kids have been telling this one for generations.

Orange is on my mind, and this silly joke popped in by association. Go figure. The mind works in strange ways.

A few days ago, Apple unveiled the latest iPhone lineup. The shape and design? Nearly identical to the last several years. The camera bump shifted slightly, but otherwise — same old, same old.

Boring!

Maybe to liven things up, Apple cut both the conservative all-black and the slightly less conservative all-white and added orange. A somewhat muted orange, but still… orange.

^{Screenshot from their keynote presentation}

It’s not their first bold color. Apple has long sold bright Product(RED) versions of iPods and iPhones. What’s odd here is that they dropped black, which is the undisputed favorite and sells more than all the others.

I don’t have a hot take beyond that. People have been calling the Pro line boring for years, so maybe this is Apple’s answer. Honestly, it feels a little like a middle-aged dad trying too hard to be cool:

If I were upgrading this year, I’d go with the dark blue. But I bought my phone just last year, so I’ll wait a couple more cycles. We’ll see what shades of orange are still around by then.

Most people cover their phones with cases anyway, so the body color hardly matters. I’m one of those strange holdouts who never uses a case. That backfired when my kids were younger — two phones in a row got yanked out of my pocket and smashed.

D'oh!

But that hasn't happened since, and hopefully won't again since they are a little older and more careful now. As am I. I've never dropped my phone before, but I do sometimes put it in the same pocket as my keys, so the screen and body are collecting scratches. That doesn't bother me, but I'm sure it horrifies at least a few of you reading this.

Anyway — orange.

What do you think? If you were in the market for an iPhone, would you pick up the orange one? If you use a case, what color case do you use?

❦

David is an American teacher and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Bluesky. 【Support @dbooster with Hive SBI】