iPhone 7 release: Apple handset could come in new 'glossy black' colour, leaked Sim trays suggest

The company had been rumoured to be dropping the silvery Space Grey option – but that appears to be sticking around

The Mac Pro, from which the new phone might borrow its dark, glossy look (REUTERS/Stephen Lam)

The next iPhone will come in a new, glossy black colour according to leaks.

Apple has long been expected to add a new colour to the iPhone line-up at this year’s iPhone 7 launch – and has done in all recent years.

For the 2016 model, that’s expected to be a deep and potentially glossy black phone. It would be the first time that a real black phone has been sold by Apple for years – and a move away from Apple’s recent trend for brighter and more eye-catching colours.

At the moment, Apple offers its phones – and lots of its other products – in four main colours: silver, gold, rose gold and a space grey that varies between being dark and something like aluminium. But it’s going to be adding a new colour to that line up at its event on 7 September, according to a report from Japanese website Mac Otakara.

The new colour will be the kind of glossy black that was last seen on the Mac Pro, released in 2013, according to the reports that are based on leaked Sim card slots.

Previous reports have suggested that the new black colour will be a much darker version of space grey, which will be “close to black, though not quite black”. But space grey appears to be continuing as a colour in the line-up, and the new hue will presumably join under the name of space black or something like it – which has been used for black products in the past.

Apple has added a new colour to new iPhones recently, with the gold making its debut with the iPhone 6 and then rose gold following with the iPhone 6s. As well as helping bring diversity to the iPhone range and appealing to new markets, it also helps mark out new phones as the design stays otherwise the same.

The company will show off the new phones, any new colours, and everything else they’ve got planned at an event in San Francisco on 7 September. As well as the redesigned phones - which are expected to look mostly the same – Apple is expected to unveil the Apple Watch 2 and possible new products.