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Watch Apple’s new musical holiday ad ‘A Critter Carol’, featuring iPhone 17 Pro

Apple has launched its new holiday ad A Critter Carol, which features a misplaced iPhone 17 Pro being used by woodland critters to record themselves singing a Christmas carol.

Apple simultaneously released a making of video that shows how the company also used iPhones in the making of the film, as well as how all the hand-crafted puppetry was animated and brought to life.

In the ad, two explorers in the wood accidentally drop their phone, leaving a blue iPhone 17 Pro on the woodland floor.

The animals pick up the phone and use it to film themselves recording a musical performance of the song Friends, by Flight of the Conchords.

The singing is cut-short when the phone’s owner uses the Ping feature on his Apple Watch to retrace his steps and recover the lost phone.

In the behind-the-scenes, you can see how the animal puppets are being hand-controlled by on-set animators wearing blue clothing, that is later removed digitally. The fake forest set was designed to sit on a platform that is suspended 3 feet off the ground, so the animators can hold the puppets up from underneath the ‘floor’.

Watch Apple’s 2025 holiday film here:

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Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Benjamin Mayo

Benjamin develops iOS apps professionally and covers Apple news and rumors for 9to5Mac. Listen to Benjamin, every week, on the Happy Hour podcast. Check out his personal blog. Message Benjamin over email or Twitter.