If you have an iPhone with the Apple TV+ app installed, watch the trailer to the upcoming Brad Pitt and Damson Idris starrer, F1. Directed by Joseph Kosinski, the trailer is made special by the haptics of the iPhone.
Leave out the moments of narration and quick-cut teasers at the beginning of the trailer. Enjoy the way your phone rumbles, giving you a feel of the racetrack.
Turn your device into a landscape position, with a hand on each side of the phone to make the immersive magic happen.
The director has said that he wanted to create “the most authentic, realistic, and grounded racing movie ever made”. The feel extends to the thriller. His team used miniature IMAX-certified cameras (developed for Top Gun: Maverick) to mount them to the cockpit of the race car and put the audience in the driver’s seat.
Haptic technology isn’t new. Actuators that create the sensations we physically feel have been used on game controllers and smartphones for years. But seeing it being used in a movie trailer is an innovative experience.
In 2013, Huggies ran a video showing a pair of his and hers “pregnancy belts” with sensors that would let dad experience the unborn baby’s kicks just like mom. More than a decade ago, at CES, the French company Emiota showed off a belt prototype called Belty that nudged the user to exercise.
The film is releasing at a time when Apple is also popularising spatial experiences on iPhone.
Apple is introducing Spatial Scenes, a new iOS 26 feature that turns 2D photos into immersive 3D effects. Even if you don’t have an iPhone compatible with Apple Intelligence, you’ll still get access to it.
Spatial Scenes use advanced computer vision techniques running on the Neural Engine to reconstruct depth from flat images. It can generate a spatially reactive version of your photo that shifts and animates as you move your phone. The 3D effect will be built right into the Photos app, meaning you can revisit any past moments with a new sense of depth and motion.
Spatial Scenes can be seen as an extension of the Spatial Photos format introduced with Apple Vision Pro. Instead of relying on dual-camera depth data or stereoscopic image pairs, it reconstructs 3D depth using advanced monocular computer vision techniques on-device.
Coming back to the trailer, like on Sylvester Stallone’s Driven, F1 follows racing veteran Sonny Hayes (played by Brad Pitt) who was forced to retire after a crash in the 1990s. And then his friend and APXGP team owner, Ruben (Javier Bardem), checks on him to mentor rookie prodigy Joshua “Noah” Pearce (Damson Idris).
Also, if you are interested in Formula 1, check out the Box Box Club app. Founded in May 2022 by Bangalore-based duo Ranjith Ramanan and Kamal Kumar Lakshmanan, the app’s objective is simple — giving Formula One fans a unique experience.
“It started as a passion project and then Apple’s Developer Centre and the App Store entered the picture. We quit our day jobs and now have employed a small group of people,” says Ranjith, who is a seasoned designer.
Launched first as an iOS widget, Box Box has become a dynamic mobile application that almost every Formula One fan must have. The duo has seamlessly navigated the Apple and Android ecosystems.