With the WWDC 2023 conference just around the corner, Apple is a hot topic in the media. Just today, on Twitter, Kosutami, a prototype collector, revealed prototypes of Apple AirPods charging cases in several colors that were reportedly canceled by the company.
According to Kosutami, the Cupertino company prototyped five unique colors of the Apple AirPods case. These colors were Purple, Pink, Product Red, Black, and Blonde to match the iPhone 7. In the images shared by Kosutami, the prototype cases have a glossy finish and the AirPods are white, although there is a blue protective sheet on top.
Apple used to release color version of 1st gen AirPods, they planned to make Pink, ProductRED, Purple, Black, Blonde.
— Kosutami (@KosutamiSan) May 30, 2023
Reason of that: they wanted to match the color with iPhone 7. (Purple version of iPhone 7 cancelled at last)
And it’s been cancelled. #appleinternal #Apple pic.twitter.com/AaQqrJZbSr
Not only did we not see Apple officially release the cases in these colors, but we also got to know the purple iPhone 7 had been canceled. The iPhone 7 was released in Jet Black, Gold, Black, Red, and Rose Gold. Out of these, Jet Black remained a popular edition and was sold out soon after its release.
Kosutami has one or more sources within the company that provide him with insights about the products and rare product prototypes. According to his sources, Apple did not plan on canceling these AirPods cases until they were close to launch. He mentioned:
“It hasn’t canceled until DVT or PVT Stage, which means they didn"t cancel the plan until they were close to the launch.”
DVT stands for Design Validation Test and PVT stands for Production Validation Testing. In DVT, unit-level validation is carried out to check whether the components of a product will work together once combined. At this stage, full validation is carried out. Next comes the PVT where full system-level validation is done alongside assembly and regulatory testing to check whether the entire device functions as expected and can be manufactured at scale.
While it has been a minute since the release of the iPhone 7, the reason for these matching AirPods cases being canceled at a late stage in their development is still unknown.