Whenever Apple shows off a new iPhone[1], the company always has a great deal to say about its camera. True to form, this year's iPhone Xs and Xs Max—announced last week[2] and available on Friday[3]—have a camera that bests last year's model and, as the first round of reviews indicates, does a notch better than almost every competing smartphone.
To test the new hardware, we gave an iPhone XS Max to the film director Jon M. Chu. The Crazy Rich Asians[4] director shot a short film for WIRED, and the results are truly special.
"I had literally zero equipment," says Chu. "I see a lot of samples of iPhone videos, and sometimes they use different lenses or professional lights. I didn't have any of that."
Chu shot the film—a view into dancer Luigi Rosado's rehearsal space, titled Somewhere—in 4K using the iPhone's native camera app. It was all shot handheld using the phone's default stabilizing system. And while he edited the video on a computer, Chu didn't apply any color correction or any post-production tricks. What you're seeing is the default output of the iPhone's camera.
Lights, Camera, Action
Shooting in a setting that wouldn't guarantee great results—at nighttime in a small garage under fluorescent lights—was a challenge Chu gave himself. "I wanted to stretch it in a harsh environment," he says.
He tried to test as many of the camera's features as possible. There are a few moments in Somewhere when Chu drops into a slow-motion shot. He did that with the iPhone Camera app's built-in slo-motion setting, which shoots at 240 frames per second.
"I knew those bright fluorescents were in...