Technologies

Apple Breaks Boundaries by Filming Event Video on iPhone 15 Pro Max

Apple unveiled new Macs with M3 chips, but one of the most significant reveals was that it used an iPhone to record the event video.

When Apple launched the new M3 chip series for its Macs alongside new MacBook Pros and iMacs at its Scary Fast event earlier this week, it wasn’t a new product that made a big splash, but one released in September. At the end of the presentation a title card appeared that stated: «This event was shot on iPhone and edited on Mac.»

The fineprint under the text said that all the presenters, locations and even drone footage were recorded with an iPhone 15 Pro Max. Apple has used slickly shot and edited prerecorded videos in lieu of in-person live presenters for product launch events since 2020. But this is the first time Apple ever broadcast a keynote event video that was filmed entirely with an iPhone.

Yes, the same phone you use to record your kids playing around the house, or concerts or your pets being cute was used to record Apple CEO Tim Cook and other executives launching updated Macs. But this wasn’t the case of an eager Apple employee holding their new iPhone 15 Pro Max in landscape orientation, recording video and helping Cook find his best light.

The $1,199 phone was mounted on pricey accessories like a camera crane, drone, gimbal and dolly, all while feeding video previews to multitudes of monitors. The iPhone 15 Pro Max was in a BeastGrip cage, which, depending on the specific model, costs anywhere from $140 to $325. There were external hard drives connected to the iPhone to save recordings, external mics used to record the audio, professional lighting and modifiers to make everyone from Cook to Issa Rae look their best.

The video shoot and post-production involved a small army of professionals. Meaning that everything else, aside from the iPhone, still costs tens of thousands of dollars if not more.

Apple isn’t shy about promoting videos shot on an iPhone. Steven Soderbergh used an iPhone to shoot full-length films like Unsane and High Flying Bird. There’s no shortage of iPhone-shot music videos for singers like Lady Gaga and Olivia Rodrigo. Heck, Steven Speilberg shot his first music video (Marcus Mumford’s Cannibal) on an iPhone.

In a press release that provides a behind-the-scenes look, Apple mentions that an iPhone 15 Pro Max with the free Blackmagic Camera app was used to record ProRes video in Apple Log, which allows a lot of leeway to color grade videos and minimize image noise in the shadows. Even with all the lighting, large stretches of Apple’s event video were filmed in darkness, with Cook standing outdoors under a night sky and wishing us all a «good evening» instead of his usual «good morning.»

You can learn more about how Apple made the prerecorded event video here.

I Took 600+ Photos With the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Look at My Favorites

+31 more

See all photos

Technologies

Meta and AMD’s Multibillion-Dollar Deal Is All About the AI Chips

Meta will take a stake in the chipmaker in exchange for a commitment to buy billions of dollars’ worth of AI chips.

Meta is joining OpenAI as one of the major tech companies to take a stake in chipmaker AMD, as part of an AI hardware buying frenzy. Meta and AMD on Tuesday announced a partnership that will involve CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s tech giant buying billions of dollars’ worth of AMD Instinct GPUs in order to fuel its ambitions to build out AI offerings across Meta platforms, including Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp.

In a release, Meta described the deal as «multi-year,» and said the AI purchase will provide Meta with up to 6 gigawatts of AMD GPUs, «the silicon computing technology used to support modern AI models.»

According to the US Department of Energy, a single gigawatt (1 billion watts) is equivalent to nearly 2,000 large solar panels or 100 million LED bulbs.

In AMD’s version of the announcement, CEO Lisa Su said, «We are proud to expand our strategic partnership with Meta as they push the boundaries of AI at unprecedented scale.» As part of the deal, Meta will take a 10% stake in AMD.

AMD, based in Santa Clara, California, previously signed a deal with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI that it announced last October, which is similar to the Meta deal and also gives its AI rival 10% ownership of AMD.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

What does this mean for the rest of us?

AMD’s two megadeals may not have an immediate impact on people who use Meta’s social networking and communications apps, or even on those who buy AMD’s products, including desktop processors and graphics cards.

But it signals that large companies making huge bets on the future of AI are doing what they can to secure the hardware they need as supplies tighten and prices rise for components such as RAM. Some of those constraints aren’t expected to end anytime soon, and shoppers could begin to see prices rise even more than they already have for computers, smartphones, vehicles and other products that heavily rely on computing components like these.

It is also a sign that Meta’s ambitions for AI are not slowing down as it continues to compete with companies including OpenAI, Microsoft and Google to develop AI products and tools.

Also a factor: Meta’s push into wearables

Another reason AMD may want access to AI chips goes beyond its own data centers and online platforms: Meta has increasingly been focused on wearables such as its Oakley Meta AI Glasses and other potential new portable products.

In addition to what AMD’s GPUs can offer Meta for AI infrastructure power, AMD may also be part of its wearable future.

«With AI models requiring unprecedented processing power to process real-time data and information, Meta is focused on securing the supply chain necessary for its wearable devices,» said Michael J. Wolf, founder and CEO of the consulting firm Activate.

Wolf believes that the deals Meta and OpenAI have signed won’t be the last time a major AI-focused company locks down a supply of semiconductors.

«As consumer hardware transitions from smartphones to smart glasses, we will absolutely see more of these mega-deals,» Wolf said.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Feb. 25, #520

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Feb. 25, No. 520.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition features a mix of difficulties. The green one is kind of fun today. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Whack it!

Green group hint: Halloween colors.

Blue group hint: The airport is YUL.

Purple group hint: It’s also a hat.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: To hit a baseball hard.

Green group: Orange and black teams.

Blue group: Associated with Montreal.

Purple group: ____ derby.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is to hit a baseball hard. The four answers are belt, blister, hammer and tattoo.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is orange and black teams. The four answers are Bengals, Flyers, Giants and Oklahoma State.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is associated with Montreal. The four answers are 1976 Olympics, Canadiens, Expos and Youppi!

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____ derby. The four answers are home run, Kentucky, Merseyside and roller.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, Feb. 25

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Feb. 25.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

I thought today’s Mini Crossword was a tough one! Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.