Apple just showed off its custom camera made from iPhone parts—and we want one

In case you haven’t heard, Apple’s big Brad Pitt movie, “F1,” opens next week, and the company is in full-on promotion mode. There was Craig Federighi’s hair, followed by an incredible haptic trailer, a Brad Pitt sighting at the Apple Store, and an Apple Pay promotion with Fandango. Now, Apple is showing off one of the gadgets it used to film the movie.

According to a report by Wired, Apple used iPhone 15 Pro parts (the movie was filmed in 2023), namely the 48MP wide-angle camera, A17 Pro processor, and battery. Apple also added a neutral density filter over the lens “to reduce the light entering the lens, giving film editors more control over exposure.”

To handle the intense speeds and extreme conditions, Apple built a custom module for the camera, which is extremely aerodynamic and attached to the side of the car like a mirror. Apple told Wired the camera is designed to “endure extreme shock, vibrations, and heat—it supposedly surpassed the specs provided by Formula One.”

Apple explains that the camera needed to be hooked up to an iPad via USB-C to “adjust things like frame rate, exposure gain, shutter angle, and white balance,” as well as start and stop recordings, since there are no wireless chips on board. 

While Apple will obviously never release its “F1” camera for sale, it could be a glimpse into its rumored smart home security camera. While the design and functionality are likely to be much different, Apple will almost certainly use iPhone camera sensors and chips in the device, which could ship as early as this fall. Meanwhile, you can see Apple’s camera in action on the big screen when “F1” arrives in theaters next Friday.