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Apple’s 2025 Chinese New Year Shot on iPhone film appears online

Apple likes to celebrate the Chinese New Year with a specially-commissioned Shot on iPhone video, and an unofficial copy of this year’s short film has been posted ahead of the official reveal expected later today. The lunar new year begins on January 29.

The 12-minute short musical film entitled I Want to Listen to You is directed by Michael Gracey, who previously directed the Hollywood musical film The Greatest Showman

Since 2018, Apple has used the occasion both to welcome in the lunar year, and to showcase the cinematic prowess of the current iPhone. What appears to be a low-res bootlegged copy of year’s video has been shared on Bilibili.

Passionate Geekz explains the story.

Through a musical full of retro aesthetics, it explores the current emotional issues that ordinary young people are aware of […]

Different from the traditional culture and family narratives of previous years, “Want to Listen to Songs with You” takes us back to the 1990s. The protagonist Xiaowei was asked this cliché question by his family during the New Year’s Eve dinner:

“When are you going to get a girlfriend? Grandma is still waiting to have her grandson.”
“How can this matter be so simple? You are all thinking about me from your perspective.”
“Back then, your dad used a music cassette tape to chase your mom.”

Perhaps because of the association with tapes, when Xiaowei went back to his room to rest after dinner, he also discovered the old tapes on the bookshelf. Among them, the tape with the words “Little Rose for Me” also took Xiaowei back to 1994.

You can read the rest of it at the site.

The film showcases a number of the iPhone 16 Pro camera’s capabilities, including low-light shooting and 4K 120fps slo-mo footage. We’ll embed the official version once it goes live.

Screengrab: Apple

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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