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

Entitled “Worlds made on the iPad,” the minute-by-minute video features actress Sofia Wylie on a green screen. The screen then splits into three views, each with a different animated scene that evolves as she crawls, jumps and floats through the stylized spaces. It’s a distinctly different vibe than the last one, which, uh, didn’t sit well.

That ad — titled “Crush!” – featured a variety of instruments, paints, sound mixing equipment, and other artistic tools being crushed in a hydraulic press, all coming together to create a brand-new iPad Pro. Not surprisingly, many creators didn’t like seeing symbols of their livelihood explode as souvenirs and be reduced to a single consumer product. Weird! Apple later issued an apology, and perhaps this new announcement is another kind of apology as well.

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

The animators are listed further 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 last.