Replace “vroom vroom” with “buzz buzz” for a special trailer Apple has made solely for iPhone owners.
Apple’s first foray into a cinema release film just saw something rather cool arrive as an iPhone release: a special vibrating haptic trailer for the film it’s about to release.
If you’re a fan of fast cars or Brad Pitt (or alternatively, fast cars and Brad Pitt), you probably already know about “F1” on its way, a film from the director of Top Gun: Maverick and the excellent Tron: Legacy. Both of those films tend to focus on fast vehicles (aircraft and light cycles), and it seems F1 will continue that, with Brad Pitt in the world of the uber-fast.
While it’s not technically Apple’s first film, F1 will be the first Apple film to make its way to a theatrical release. And it seems to celebrate that, Apple’s unique iPhone-only trailer gives people a taste of what to expect from the film, kinda sorta.
When watched on the iPhone through the Apple TV app, the movie trailer offers a level of vibration not unlike what gaming controllers offer in games. The roar of the engine, the click of tools, and other sounds distilled into a haptic format, as if someone had taken the vibrate feature of your phone and found a better use.
Those vibrations have reportedly been designed on a frame-by-frame basis to make the trailer stand out, even though you probably won’t feel those vibrations watching the film in the cinemas.
That said, it’s still very cool and worth checking out if you can, helped by what sounds like a Dolby Atmos soundtrack playing through the iPhone’s speaker system. You won’t experience the haptics in the YouTube version above, but it’s still a trailer worth checking out if you like Brad Pitt and/or fast cars, as mentioned above.
Our only hope now is that Apple brings the vibrating haptic sensation to the entire movie when it eventually drives into Apple TV+ later on. Handy for those of us with kids who never get to venture out to the movies, and have to rely on streaming services for entertainment.
