New iPhone could include different, ‘rainbow’ Apple logo, rumour suggests

Classic colours have not been used for decades – but have been making increasing appearances across Apple's events

An Apple logo is seen on a building during a product launch event on October 27, 2016 in Cupertino, California (Stephen Lam/Getty Images)

Apple could be about to change the logo on the back of its iPhone.

The company is working on new models that will bring back the company's classic rainbow logo, according to a report from Macrumors.

Ever since the iPhone was created – and long before that – Apple has put a monochromatic, often shiny version of its logo onto each of its products. That subtle bitten Apple has been a central feature of the back of every iPhone since the first one.

But Apple could release a version of its new phone that uses the famous "six colour" logo that Apple used for decades before that. The design features the same Apple shape, but with filled with stripes of different colours.

That is according to a new report from Macrumors, which cited a tipster with connections at Apple and other industries. It stressed that it had opted to share the rumour because of the tipster being so well-connected.

Apple's classic logo first arrived with the Apple II computer in 1997. From 1998, Apple started to switch over to just one single colour, and that has been the norm ever since.

The classic logo could come to an iPhone as soon as this year. It could arrive on a limited edition version of the phone, in the same way as Apple's Product Red editions, which have been released separately to the usual iPhone cycle and have brought colour options not present on the other handsets.

Apple has a reputation for resisting nostalgia and instead focusing on the future. But in fact it has shown a keen interest in its own history, which has seemed to grow in recent years, and that has included regular nods towards the rainbow logo.

In March, for instance, the opening film for its launch event made heavy reference to Apple's early logo and its "Think Different" slogan. Apple also created a huge rainbow stage for an event marking the opening of its new campus, with designer Jony Ive saying the look had been chosen in part because of its "resonance with the rainbow logo that’s been part of our identity for many years".