Saying Apple filmed its big Mac event on an iPhone ignores all the specialist equipment it used to pull it off

News
By Oliver Haslam
published

It's mighty impressive, to a point.

An iPhone 15 Pro Max against an abstract multi-colored retro background.
(Image credit: Gerald Lynch / Future / Apple)

Apple's 'Scary Fast' Mac unveiling brought with it new laptops and a whole range of M3 chips. And as ever, it was a tour de force of filmmaking thanks to some sweeping pans and glorious framing. And the whole thing was filmed on something many of you might be reading this on.

When Apple's stream ended yesterday there was a line of text that shared the news the whole video was filmed on an iPhone and edited on a Mac. That iPhone was an iPhone 15 Pro Max, and that's incredibly impressive, of which there's no doubt. But is it really the whole story?

Well, no, not really. As is so often the case, Apple's factually correct in what it's saying. But as a behind-the-scenes video that it posted to YouTube before removing and then reuploading it shows, there was a whole lot more that went into creating what we all saw on our screens yesterday. And you probably won't be recreating it at home any time soon.

Using an iPhone ... and much, much more

It's obviously good for business if Apple can say that it used its best iPhone to create an entire, professional-looking video. But it's important to remember that there's a whole lot more to what is going on here.

Apple's reuploaded video is embedded below for you to take a look at. And it makes it abundantly clear that Apple didn't just get someone from the local Apple Store and sent them on their way.

Now, I'm no videographer and I don't know the name for the vast majority of the bits and pieces shown in that video. But it's obvious to even me that saying this video was filmed on an iPhone leaves a lot out. Because while it might be the case, the production quality and finished video wouldn't be possible without the equipment Apple brought to bear.

Now, I get it. Not everyone is going to try and create something like this in the first place. Even fewer of those people are going to try and do it on an iPhone. But if Apple's going to say that you can do it, I feel like it should at least mention the elephant in the room — the likely thousands of dollars of extra equipment you need to make it happen.

I mean, just look at the rig the iPhone was attached to in this capture below.

All of that being said, Apple does deserve some credit here. The iPhone 15 Pro's high-speed USB-C port for external storage and the capturing of Apple Log video is a big deal, especially when working on projects as big as this. There's a reason that an iPhone 15 Pro was used instead of a standard iPhone 15, for example.

Is Apple bending the truth when it says that the event was shot on an iPhone? Of course not. Is it leaving out some important bits of information about how it did it? Absolutely. Does it matter in the grand scheme of things? Probably not. But it just feels icky.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.

10 Comments Comment from the forums
  • macinfo
    But one point you might be missing here is that Apple is telling you that you can use an iPhone as a camera instead of something from Sony, Red, or other manufacturers that can run upwards of 10-15k and still need the full rig that you are saying they didn't talk about.
    Reply
  • FFR
    Indeed specialist equipment but still using an iPhone 15 pro max and its cameras.
    Reply
  • mdymund
    Apple is not claiming to replace the whole studio with just an iPhone 15 Pro Max. They're only claiming to replace the camera. Any production of this size would still include mics, lighting, effects, even on-screen talent. I make videos for my workplace with my iPhone, and I still use external lights. I still use external mics. I still use external editing software.

    But I don't need to shell out for a better camera that the one I carry around anyway on my iPhone.
    Reply
  • FFR
    That special equipment used was to move the phone and light the scenes.

    This what Apple used to film it.

    Reply
  • Ledsteplin
    mdymund said:
    Apple is not claiming to replace the whole studio with just an iPhone 15 Pro Max. They're only claiming to replace the camera. Any production of this size would still include mics, lighting, effects, even on-screen talent. I make videos for my workplace with my iPhone, and I still use external lights. I still use external mics. I still use external editing software.

    But I don't need to shell out for a better camera that the one I carry around anyway on my iPhone.

    It's the way they make it sound though. Like it was all the iPhone and nothing else.
    Reply
  • FFR
    Ledsteplin said:
    It's the way they make it sound though. Like it was all the iPhone and nothing else.

    Only thing they claimed was it was filmed on iPhone.

    “Filmed on iPhone, edited on Mac”
    Reply
  • Ledsteplin
    FFR said:
    Only thing they claimed was it was filmed on iPhone.

    “Filmed on iPhone, edited on Mac”

    Yes, but most people would think all iPhone. They know that.
    Reply
  • mdymund
    Ledsteplin said:
    It's the way they make it sound though. Like it was all the iPhone and nothing else.
    I think that perhaps your takeaway here isn't so much that Apple is trying to dupe iPhone buyers, but the realization that so much more goes into something like this than just the device being used to capture the image. And again, all Apple is pointing out that the _image capture device_ is an iPhone. Even most popular social media "personalities" (for lack of a better word) still use external lights, and many with external mics, handheld gimbals, &tc. Even a person using their iPhone as a Continuity Camera with a MacBook Pro for a Zoom is using more equipment than simply their laptop. Would one accuse them of trying dupe the people they're on that call with?
    Reply
  • seonline
    As a professional videographer I never list all my gear. When people ask what I shoot on I tell them the camera/cameras and that's it. This implies nothing more than it was shot using the iPhone as the camera. All the same things Apples always does for these still applies: armies of people and equipment. You cannot get what they produce without it and no one professionally thinks they were saying otherwise. People who don't know what shoots like these take might not be aware, but to make an article saying they're duping people into thinking it's just an iPhone is beyond a stretch.
    Reply
  • FFR
    Ledsteplin said:
    Yes, but most people would think all iPhone. They know that.

    It was filmed all on an iPhone.

    Apple even used a free camera app on the App Store called black magic on the iPhone 15 pro max.
    Reply