Don't hold your breath for any fun new iPhone 8 colors

If you're planning to buy a colorful new iPhone later this year, you should probably temper your excitement: You might have fewer options to choose from than you were expecting.

The next-gen iPhones will likely launch in only three hues, according to reliable Apple insider Ming-Chi Kuo. His latest research note, which was provided to MacRumors, predicts that Apple will release only black, silver, and gold versions of both the deluxe iPhone 8 and its companion 7S and 7S Plus devices.

The trio of shades just showed up in an earlier leak, which caught the blogosphere's attention because of the new gold hue. Many guessed this to be a new "copper gold" or bronze color joining the current lineup of black, jet black, gold, rose gold, silver, and red. Instead, if Kuo's information is correct, Apple is going back to basics and cutting out the other options completely.

The leak with the images of the dummy iPhones sporting the "copper" color came from Chinese social media network Weibo, and don't appear to be directly associated with Kuo's report. Those images could give us a look at what Apple might be releasing to us, however, so they're worth a look.

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Kuo's note also elaborated on the fast charging expected in all three new phones. Users might need to buy a Type-C power adapter to unleash the high-speed feature, which could add up with the accessories needed to enable wireless charging, too.

There was one nugget of good news in the report: Kuo thinks that Apple has been able to shake off rumored delays to kickstart manufacturing in time for a September launch. He expects the company will be able to announce all three iPhones at the same time at a keynote during that month, as has become routine, and that all of the devices will be released on the same day.

The deluxe iPhone 8, however, will likely face a major supply squeeze, with only two to four million units available for shipment during the third quarter of the year before ramping up production in Q4. Kuo guesses high demand will keep availability scarce until at least the beginning of 2018, so you'll have to pre-order as quickly as possible for a shot to be one of the first with the new phones.

Kuo's note comes on the heels of the massive HomePod firmware leak, which seemingly confirmed some of the most rampant rumors surrounding the iPhone 8. We hope we'll be seeing powerful new facial recognition sensors, super-powered 4K recording, and, most importantly, the edge-to-edge display form factor people are predicting after the leak — but we'd also love to see the new device in rose gold.

If Kuo's prediction is correct, we're at the end of an era. Hold onto your colorful iPhones while you still can.