Apple’s new iPad Pro ad puts the focus back on creators

Titled “Worlds Made on iPad,” the minute-and-change video features actor Sofia Wylie on a green screen set. Then, the screen splits into three views, each with a different animated backdrop that evolves as she crawls, leaps, and floats through the stylized spaces. It’s a distinctly different vibe from the last one, which, uh, didn’t go down well.

That ad — titled “Crush!” — featured an array of instruments, paints, sound mixing equipment, and other artistic tools being crushed in a hydraulic press, all smashed together to create a shiny new iPad Pro. Unsurprisingly, many creators didn’t take kindly to seeing the symbols of their livelihood explode like party favors and be reduced to a single consumer product. Weird! Apple later issued an apology, and maybe this new ad is another kind of apology, too.

The latest video is much more human-centric — the iPad Pro isn’t actually pictured in the main video, though it does appear in a vertical version of the ad. The caption for both versions reads, “One piece of green screen footage interpreted by different animators using iPad Pro powered by the M4 chip, and the new Apple Pencil Pro.”

The animators are listed farther down in the caption; they are Natalie Labarre, Jin & Jay, and Eric Lane. All real people! Personally, I think their work leaves a more lasting impression than the previous one.