Apple Shares Two New Ads Highlighting Portrait Mode on iPhone 7 Plus

Apple this morning shared two new iPhone ads on its YouTube channel, focused on highlighting the Portrait Mode feature available on the iPhone 7 Plus. Each 15 second ad explains how Portrait Mode works through blurring the background of a photograph to make a subject stand out.

The ads include examples of images taken with Portrait Mode compared to images taken without Portrait Mode to make the differences clear. The first ad features a dog in front of trees and the second features a child in a creek.


Introduced in iOS 10.1, Portrait mode uses a shallow depth of field to make portrait photos "pop," mimicking a high-end DSLR. The feature takes advantage of the 56mm telephoto lens included in the iPhone 7 Plus, using Apple's image signal processor to scan a scene and machine learning techniques to recognize people and other objects meant to be in the foreground.

A depth map of the image from the two cameras in the iPhone is used to keep people in focus while applying an artistic blur to the background, resulting in an image that's normally not possible on a smartphone.

The two new ads follow a revamped "Shot on iPhone" ad campaign that Apple recently launched, which highlights a series of photographs all taken on a single night to promote the camera features in the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus.

Top Rated Comments

Fynd Avatar
89 months ago
Portrait mode is a gimmick so are the two lenses. I get actual bokeh with my 20MP Zeiss Pureview. In one lens .The way Apl does it is fokeh and only 12MP.
Having 2x zoom is no gimmick, it's quite handy.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
alksion Avatar
89 months ago
I'll keep it simple and say I enjoy the features on my PHONE. It's great to have a bag tricks with me when I want to whip a photo on the whim.

Attached a few photos as an example.

Attachment Image

Attachment Image

Attachment Image

Attachment Image

Attachment Image

Attachment Image
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
darcyf Avatar
89 months ago
iPhone camera features are getting more and more gimmicky. First Live Photos, which tend to look janky and serve no real purpose, and now fake shallow depth of field with finicky requirements to use it and get right.

I like having a camera on my phone for things like showing my spouse what I'm looking at right now and to remind myself of something. But for actual photography I've switched back to using a real camera with real camera features (hello Sony rx100 v). The difference is astounding.

To each their own but all these new iPhone camera features just seem silly to me.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Menel Avatar
89 months ago
Yet its still in BETA
Because it's a software hack to simulate optics. And it's hackish... at best.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MarcusCarpenter Avatar
89 months ago
Yet its still in BETA
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Michael Scrip Avatar
89 months ago
Nice commercials. Short and to the point. Showing benefits, not features.

I like it.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

apple card 1

Apple Ending Apple Card Partnership With Goldman Sachs

Tuesday November 28, 2023 3:09 pm PST by
Apple is ending its credit card partnership with Goldman Sachs, according to The Wall Street Journal. Apple plans to stop working with Goldman Sachs in the next 12 to 15 months, and it is not yet clear if Apple has established a new partnership for the Apple Card. Apple and Goldman Sachs will dissolve their entire consumer partnership, including the Apple Card and the Apple Savings account....
iOS 17

Everything New in iOS 17.2 Beta 4

Tuesday November 28, 2023 12:18 pm PST by
Apple is wrapping up development on iOS 17.2, with the update expected to come out in December. While we're getting to the end of the beta testing period, Apple is still tweaking features and adding new functionality. We've rounded up everything new in the fourth beta of iOS 17.2. Default Notification Sound Under Sounds & Haptics, there's a new "Default Alerts" section that allows you to ...
ios 17 namedrop

Police Departments and News Sites Spreading Misinformation About How iOS 17 NameDrop Feature Works

Monday November 27, 2023 5:11 pm PST by
Apple with iOS 17.1 and watchOS 10.1 introduced a new NameDrop feature that is designed to allow users to place Apple devices near one another to quickly exchange contact information. Sharing contact information is done with explicit user permission, but some news organizations and police departments have been spreading misinformation about how NameDrop functions. As noted by The Washington...
All New CarPlay Five New Features Article 2

What to Expect From All-New CarPlay, Still Listed as Coming 'Late 2023'

Tuesday November 28, 2023 7:44 am PST by
At WWDC in June 2022, Apple previewed the next generation of CarPlay, promising deeper integration with vehicle functions like A/C and FM radio, support for multiple displays across the dashboard, increased personalization, and more. Apple's website still says the first vehicles with support for the next-generation CarPlay experience will be announced in "late 2023," but it has not shared...
iOS 17

iOS 17.1.2 Update for iPhone Likely to Be Released This Week

Monday November 27, 2023 8:24 am PST by
Apple will likely release iOS 17.1.2 this week, based on mounting evidence of the software in our website's analytics logs in recent days. As a minor update, iOS 17.1.2 should be focused on bug fixes, but it's unclear exactly which issues might be addressed. Some users have continued to experience Wi-Fi issues on iOS 17.1.1, so perhaps iOS 17.1.2 will include the same fix for Wi-Fi...
Apple 5G Modem Feature Triad

Apple to Discontinue Custom 5G Modem Development, Claim Reports

Wednesday November 29, 2023 4:19 am PST by
Apple is discontinuing in-house modem development after several unsuccessful attempts to perfect its own custom 5G modem chip, according to unconfirmed reports coming out of Asia. According to the operator of news aggregator account "yeux1122" on the Naver blog, supply chain sources related to Apple's 5G modem departments claim that the company's attempts to develop its own modem have...
Apple Logo

Apple Discontinued These 5 Products This Year

Monday November 27, 2023 7:03 am PST by
As the end of 2023 nears, now is a good opportunity to look back at some of the devices and accessories that Apple discontinued throughout the year. Apple products discontinued in 2023 include the iPhone 13 mini, 13-inch MacBook Pro, MagSafe Battery Pack, MagSafe Duo Charger, and leather accessories. Also check out our lists of Apple products discontinued in 2022 and 2021. iPhone Mini ...
Google Drive

Some Google Drive Users' Files Have Mysteriously Vanished

Tuesday November 28, 2023 3:55 am PST by
Google Drive users have been warned not to disconnect their account within the Google Drive for desktop app, after a spate of reports of files going missing from the cloud service. Alarm bells began ringing last week on Google's community support site when some users reported files mysteriously disappearing from Google Drive, with some posters claiming six or more months of data had...