Apple's 'Shot on iPhone 15' claim raises eyebrows

We already know that the iPhone 15 Pro Max camera is incredible, and so does Apple – which is why the company has made such a big deal of the fact that its latest product reveal, this week's 'Scary Fast' event launching new M3 Macs, was shot entirely on the smartphone. But the bold (and simple) "shot on iPhone" claim is arguably a little reductive, as shown by a new behind-the-scenes video from Apple.

In short, yes, the video was shot on iPhone 15 Pro Max. With the help of some other very expensive kit. Want your own footage to look like Apple's? Hopefully you also have budget for some studio-quality lightning, gimbals, drones and SpaceCam rigs.

Of course, the fact that Apple opted to use some pro-level kit alongside the iPhone itself will come as a surprise to exactly zero people. The world's most valuable company can afford a studio light or two, and it wants its ads to look as slick as possible. And in a new blog post, Apple makes no secret of the sheer amount of tech used. But by choosing to lead with the simple and somewhat reductive "Shot on iPhone" line (one it's used before in various photography-based marketing campaigns), it certainly suggests the phone is the star of the show.

iPhone photography has come a long way since the first device launched in 2007, and has arguably replaced several tiers of camera (although the humble point-and-shoot appears to be staging a comeback). But with the sheer amount of kit required to supplement even the iPhone 15 Pro in order to create studio-quality footage, we have a feeling it'll be a while until it becomes the go-to for film directors.