\n<\/p>\n
Google has found a fun new way to dunk on Apple with an ad campaign for Pixel phones that straddles the line between cute and cringe. The search giant has released<\/a> five videos \u2014 under the campaign name \u201cBest Phones Forever\u201d \u2014 which depict sitcom-like interactions between anthropomorphized versions of the Pixel 7 Pro<\/a> and some sort of iPhone Pro<\/a>. And it kinda seems like the phones want to bone each other?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Google has pitched this<\/a> as \u201cwhat happens when two phones stop being rivals and start being friends,\u201d though the campaign largely focuses on the iPhone\u2019s apparent shortcomings compared to Pixel phones \u2014 such as astrophotography, security, and Apple\u2019s lack of foldable devices. The iPhone is basically portrayed as an outdated, inexperienced dumb dumb across all of the videos. It\u2019s a similar riff to Apple\u2019s iconic \u201cGet a Mac<\/a>\u201d campaign but with phones. And some weird, robotic sexual tension.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Each of the videos follows a similar format. The iPhone and Pixel \u201ccharacters\u201d take part in various activities together, such as stargazing, watching a sunset, and going to the beach (which may or may not be a date). Then one of two things will happen: <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The first is that the iPhone says something lovably stupid to depict its inferiority to Pixel devices (\u201cYou know, night sight. With my night light,\u201d it says in \u201cSeeing Stars<\/a>\u201d after turning on its flash to take better pictures of the night sky) before promptly dying \u2014 a nod to long-standing complaints surrounding battery life<\/a> on older iPhone models<\/a>. The second is that somber music rolls in and the iPhone starts confessing its jealousy over many of the Pixel 7 Pro\u2019s features. \u201cWhen I was your age, people were showing me off to their friends,\u201d the iPhone laments in Google\u2019s \u201cPlateau<\/a>\u201d video. \u201cAstrophotography mode, Call Assist, 30x zoom\u2026 you can do so many things I may never be able to.\u201d And then it dies again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Throughout everything, the iPhone waxes lyrical about how rad it thinks Pixel is, and there are a lot of weird, cutesy \u201cwill they, won\u2019t they\u201d moments. The Pixel has to clamber on top of the iPhone to save its life in the beach-themed ad (i.e., the phone activate its Battery Share<\/a> feature to recharge the iPhone), and at one point, a Pixel Fold<\/a> replaces the Pixel 7 Pro so that the character can \u201cflash\u201d the iPhone \u2014\u00a0opening up its brightly lit display like a sexy trench coat.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Poking fun at Apple is a tried and tested method for marketing campaigns at this point. Samsung went heavy on this in the past, seeing particular success with its \u201cGrowing Up\u201d ad in 2017<\/a>. Google\u2019s decision to dunk on the iPhone with chummy, lighthearted teasing also seems to have worked in the search giant\u2019s favor \u2014 the reactions to these ads across YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok have been overwhelmingly positive so far. Sure, it\u2019s slightly cringey, but the humor works, and it\u2019s certainly memorable \u2014 truly an \u201cenemies to lovers\u201d kinda vibe, though I\u2019m not sure what fanfiction category AO3 would need to file this under.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n