Apple managed to surprise us during its live stream event earlier this week by announcing a new iPhone. Well, a new color for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini: purple. Apple sent one to us along with some sample AirTags and so we have duly taken some photos of this, a purple iPhone 12.

It’s a lightish shade of purple. One might be tempted to call it lavender, but to me it’s a bit more like a lilac or maybe a wisteria. It lacks the redness you’d expect in a mauve or the blue tones you’d see in a violet. There are many shades of purple, but this one is what Apple went with and I like it. It’s unmistakable even at a distance, whereas the light green iPhone 12 models could be mistaken for off-white in certain light. I am also glad it doesn’t have a fancy name. It’s just “purple.”

The purple iPhone 12 is in all other ways the same as the other colors of the iPhone 12: it is very fast, has a very nice screen, 5G, and great cameras. It’s just a little more royal.

Here are some more photos of the purple iPhone 12.

Alongside the purple iPhone, Apple also released its AirTags location trackers. Here’s a first look at those: