Apple Started Using iPhone 17 Pros as Cameras for Friday Night Baseball Broadcasts

Jason Snell:

According to Apple, four iPhone 17 Pros will be positioned at Fenway Park — in the Green Monster, the home dugout, and roaming the stands. In contrast to the secrecy of last week, the Tigers-Red Sox game will feature a bug in the corner of the screen that shows off the shots that are coming from an iPhone.

Is it a self-promotional gimmick? Sure, but Apple is paying a lot of money for MLB rights. Also, it’s not as if the company hasn’t pushed its MLB telecasts in a bunch of different ways. The Friday Night Baseball broadcasts look great, and have featured loads of helmet and body cams, a cinematic depth-of-field camera, and even in-stadium drone shots. Apple has probably earned at least one night of iPhone Pro product integration.

I skipped through the archive of the game and the footage from the iPhones was indistinguishable from the regular cameras. If not for the (subtle!) “Shot on iPhone” bug in the top right corner, I’d never have even suspected they were shot on anything other than the regular cameras Apple has been using for these broadcasts.

★ Tuesday, 30 September 2025