This Is What It Feels Like To Be An iPhone

This short film explores the life cycle of the iconic smartphone.

June 24, 2015

I've owned an iPhone since the first one was released in 2007, and I'm now on my sixth iteration—an iPhone 6. All the previous ones have died for various reasons: natural causes, pickpocketing, one fell into a waterfall in a Las Vegas club. Throughout it all, my various mobiles have been the most consistent part of my life and know more about me than my closest friends.


That's more or less the premise of "The Life & Death of an iPhone," a short film directed by Paul Trillo that was shot and edited entirely on an iPhone, using Vimeo's Cameo app. In the short, the device goes from a factory in China, into the hands of an obsessive New York City consumer, and winds up being incarnated after a stumble leads to a smashed screen—all from the phone's perspective. Watch above as the protagonist hangs out with friends, goes on an awkward date, photographs his brunch, and begs a bartender to charge his device—you know, regular iPhone stuff—and then consider just how much your phone sees.

This Is What It Feels Like To Be An iPhone