What does Apple mean by 'Shot on iPhone'?

Every time Apple releases some kind of commercial or ad for an iPhone, you’ll likely spot the words ‘Shot on iPhone’ at least somewhere toward the end or the beginning. Most recently it was during the Scary Fast Event, showing off the latest M3 chips and MacBooks.

The impressive event footage was, apparently, shot entirely on an iPhone 15 Pro Max with its mixture of 48MP main lens and 12MP ultrawide — but when you really sit down and think about it there must be some caveats to the whole thing. Apple, by law, isn’t allowed to say that it shot the video with an iPhone if it didn’t shoot with an iPhone (lest the folks from advertising standards on the fish and chip flavored side of the pond get involved, and nobody wants that), but that doesn’t mean it can’t go a bit mad with what else it uses to make the footage look really, really good.

But how does Apple take such incredible footage with the exact same phone that I have nestled in my pocket when I struggle to get a decent shot of a nice view when the sunlight is in the just wrong spot?

Shot on iPhone? Yes.

Again, Apple cannot say otherwise. What we learn, however, from a very revealing behind-the-scenes video, is that the iPhone is just one very important element in a much wider recording process.

There is so much more to the shoot than just Tim Cook stood before Craig with the good hair and a camera, while the man in charge introduces the latest Apple goodies. There are massive stabilizing gimbals, enormous, impressively lit sets, and a filming crew to rival even the most dedicated movie crews.

Just look at what happens throughout the behind-the-scenes. Immaculate lighting, created by people who really know what they’re doing. iPhones in mad cases that would only fit in cargo pants with the biggest pockets you’ve ever seen — yes, the whole thing was shot on an iPhone, but there’s so much more to it.

Can you or I achieve the same results? No.

But that’s not what Apple is trying to say here, even remotely. These ads, films, and shows are all designed to show you what the iPhone can be capable of. Take a cinema camera, for example. Tens of thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment that still needs massive amounts of technical expertise, lighting rigs, and more to make look really good. Stick one of those in the hands of someone like me, a proper, base model photography and videography moron, and you’ll get some of the worst footage that ever did see the light of day.

The iPhone is a camera for everyone — one that lives in your pocket, and can take videos and photos that are good to excellent. Photos you can print out and stick on the mantlepiece in a frame and gaze at when you want to remember that trip to Yellowstone where you dropped your tuna sandwich in a geyser. You know the one. 

It can, when put in the right hands, make incredible shots, and Apple wants to show you what the surprisingly effective camera in your pocket can do.

In the hands of people

Every year, Apple runs the ‘Shot on iPhone’ competition, a photography event that sees photographers both professional and amateur send in their best iPhone photos for judging. It serves me as a way to show myself how useless I am with a camera — but it serves a wider audience as not just an encouragement to get out there and take some photos with your iPhone, but that the iPhone is a proper on-the-go alternative camera for professionals.

First of all, just look at some of the shots taken in the 2022 competition. They are, for lack of a better term, breathtaking — and for the most part, they’re all taken by people like you or me. People who might know a little more about photography, yes, but people who just happen to have their iPhones in their pockets at just the right moment.

Image 1 of 4

It tells the world, in addition to the ‘Shot on iPhone’ Apple events, that an iPhone is a proper camera, and that it deserves being paid attention to.

Professional camera features on the iPhone 15 Pro

Apple wants to make the Pro part of the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max to actually mean something beyond ‘this is the biggest and most expensive iPhone’. It wants that ‘Pro’ moniker to mean that you can trust your iPhone to take Pro level photo and video, that it’s a proper work machine.

That’s why you can film videos in massive, Raw formats and record them directly to an external USB-C-based SSD. It’s why the camera bump has three different camera modules, and why Apple has put so much effort into the camera app in recent versions of iOS. Photographers and videographers can have a phone that doesn’t necessarily replace their main camera gear but enhances it for when they’re out and about. They’ll never be caught short when they spot a truly great opportunity for a solid shot.

That, of course, pails in comparison to the main reason that Apple tells everyone its latest event was ‘Shot on iPhone’, of course: Sales.

The Olivia Rodrigo effect

Apple paid Olivia Rodrigo to film the video for her song ‘Get Him Back!’. Just like the Scary Fast event, the company then released a ‘behind-the-scenes’ video on YouTube not moments after the video was released, showing us how Olivia created the music video. This one is a whole lot less involved and in-depth than the Scary Fast filming — smaller crew, less impressive gimbals, and stabilization equipment.

This is the kind of video that small bands wanting a music video could see themselves filming — and by getting Olivia on board, Apple tells them that the best way to do it is with an iPhone.

‘Buy an iPhone, look at all these photos and videos that other people have made with them!’ is the message, and it's one that seems to be working as Apple climbs the sales ladder in comparison to its competitors. Sure, Apple wants to give you the tools to take great photos and videos, but it also wants you to buy them. And what better way to get you to part with your hard-earned dollars than to show what your next potential smartphone is capable of?

Share your photos with iMore on X (Twitter) using #iMorePhotographyWeek