Pixel and iPhone share a Christmas moment in new Google ad
Outside of Apple's "The Underdogs" series of videos which is about four co-workers at a packaging company who love to use Apple devices, perhaps the biggest cult following I've seen for promo videos made by phone manufacturers is Google's #BestPhonesForever series. These videos use Gumby-esque stop-action photography to depict the friendship between the latest Google Pixel Pro model and the latest iPhone Pro model. If you're a phone nerd like me, you love the little bits that Google throws into the videos including under-the-radar cracks at Apple.
Most of the time the Pixel is bragging about some feature it has that the iPhone doesn't but they are best friends so this is done in a subtle and tasteful way without any insults being tossed at the iPhone by Pixel. In the latest video, both phones are trapped inside separate boxes that are placed with other presents in front of a Christmas tree. Both phones have their flashlight on in order to see.
Not sure what's happening, iPhone tells the Pixel to ask Gemini for help. Silly iPhone. Gemini now has a standalone iOS app so the Pixel's help wouldn't be necessary to contact the generative AI app. Nonetheless, since this video is written by Google, Pixel gets in touch with Gemini noting that he is a phone stuck in a cardboard box and wants to know how he can escape.
Gemini makes a couple of suggestions that don't help including yelling as loud as their processors allow them to hoping to attract someone's attention. "We're doomed to spend eternity surrounded by the smell of fresh pine and the jingle jangle of seasonal carols," says iPhone. Pixel has a brilliant idea. He asks Gemini, "If the box is filled with tissue paper, and I can smell pine and hear carols, what's going on?" Gemini responds by saying, "it sounds like you might be inside a holiday gift box. Somebody probably got you as a present."
"Being a present is the best thing that can happen to a phone," notes Pixel. However, the iPhone doesn't see it that way figuring that the Pixel makes a better gift because Gemini Live is built in and also because the Pixel has the Circle to Search feature. Feeling a little inadequate, iPhone says that he isn't ready to be unwrapped. But Pixel reminds iPhone that it is the holiday season and in the process, takes a little shot at iPhone.
"It's the holidays. A time of good cheer. A time to be with the friends and family that accept you for who you are, not who you wish you could be," Pixel says with that last line aimed right at iPhone.
The video is titled "That's A Wrap" and while that title could indicate that this is the last episode in the series, it seems to be related to the two phones being wrapped up in gift boxes.
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