Credit where it’s due: the commercial for the new iPad Pro is impeccable. In the commercial, a hydraulic press, like the kind that crushes Skittles all day on TikTok, slowly descends onto a whole amalgamation of artistic endeavors. As the large metal plate drops like Tesla’s stock in 2024, it crushes musical instruments and destroys classical sculptures. Tubes of paint pop like balloons sending a cascade of color across Apple’s carefully constructed canvas of stuff. Finally, it accomplishes its job. This gathering of creations meant to represent the whole history of human creativity is laid flat by the unstoppable force of Apple’s hydraulic press.
And then, as the press slowly rises, all of that artsy mess disappears. What is left behind…
