New Apple ad shows the best depth of field is from the iPhone 7 Plus you have with you!

New Apple ad for Portrait Mode on iPhone 7 Plus.

Portrait mode on the iPhone 7 Plus helps you take great portraits by creating a depth-of-field effect that blurs backgrounds and brings faces into beautifully sharp focus. So now, taking a professional-looking portrait is as easy as snapping a photo.

This actually happened to me at a gathering of family and friends-of-the-family a month or so ago. Not shown: "Did you send me the photos yet?!"

Outside the often jaded technology community, people seem impressed with just how cool the Portrait Mode photos look and how relatively simple and easy they are to take. And when they see them on-screen a few seconds later, and can instantly start passing them around or sharing them, they get really excited. It becomes a thing.

Like my colleague, Serenity Caldwell enjoys pointing out, Pet-rait mode photos of the dogs and cats often get just as big a reaction.

As an ad, it doesn't hit me as hard as Midnight, but the situation is cleverly rendered.

Rene Ritchie
Contributor

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.