iPhone XS colours: New pictures appear to show vivid new hues coming to cheaper version of latest handset

Brown looks a little odd – and red is a choice that breaks with tradition

Runners attend a DJ concert after finishing the Burdi Colors race on May 5, 2018 in Pessac, southwestern France (NICOLAS TUCAT/AFP/Getty Images)

Leaked images appear to show the new colours that the latest iPhone will come in – and some are a little strange.

The colours are showed on a set of Sim trays that appear to be from the phone being referred to as the "Xc". That is the cheapest of the three models that are set to be revealed at Apple's launch event.

As in previous years, the cheaper phone is rumoured to be coming in a range of brighter colours. The more expensive iPhone XS will come in gold as well as more muted colours, according to previous leaks.

Probably the most shocking of the colours is a strange brown, which some have referred to optimistically as taupe. Designers even made mock-ups of how that brown would look, showing that it could possibly not be as dreary as it sounds or initially appears.

But the red is also a strange choice. Apple has made numerous red phones in the past, often offering them as part of its tie-up with Product Red, which encourages companies to make products in the colour and gives some of the proceeds to Aids research.

The colourful phones are the first time that Apple has embraced such vivid hues since the iPhone 5c, which was released fives years ago. The cheaper version of the iPhone X is expected to serve a similar purpose in the company's line-up – offering a very similar design for cheaper, in brighter colours but with some premium features removed.