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iPhone X is a sad joke, according to 'Silicon Valley' cast

Commentary: A new "Funny or Die" video offers a glimpse into the tech industry disdain for Apple's "smartphone of the future."

Chris Matyszczyk
2 min read

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives


silix

Not impressed.

Funny or Die/YouTube screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET

Are you forcing yourself to (still) be excited about the  iPhone X ?

Are you resisting the urge to just go and buy an 8 Plus and instantly enjoy the wonders of wireless charging?

Are you worried, though, that reports suggesting iPhone 8 sales are slow might lead to you to waver about the X?

You must have wondered, then, what the deep tech community thinks. You know, the ones who really dictate just how parlous your future will be. Well, here are the best representatives I know, the cast of HBO's "Silicon Valley," offering its instant reactions to Apple 's "smartphone of the future."

In a new Funny or Die video, Richard Hendricks and his Pied Piper team watch Apple's great iPhone X unveiling and are stunned at what they see. No, not in the most soul-stirring, limb-lifting, mouth-twitching way. 

Instead, as they watch Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, attempt to present Face ID -- the new way of unlocking your iPhone  -- they can barely pipe up a snort.

Yet it's Federighi's demonstration of Apple's new animoji, the animated emoji of things like pandas and poop that move just like your own face, that finally drives these Valley icons to despair.

Erlich Bachman, the true spirit of the company, offers an unprintable reaction.

Hendricks, however, tries to be positive: "It's fun. And, you know, the demo's interactive," he says, with a pained face.

But once Federighi starts making his now-legendary chicken noises to go along with his chicken animoji, the Piperites cannot cope. Their numbness only increases when Federighi brings out his almost masterful interpretation of a unicorn's ... snort.

There they were, hoping to witness something for the next age. Soon, they realize the next age will be one in which we choose to behave like farmyard animals and believe in mythical creatures. Or, as some might call it, "Game of Thrones."

Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for its view of this work of art.

I worry, though, that the poop-inspired tagline offered here might inflame one or two in Cupertino. 

Still, can the iPhone X still excite? I worry. Even Jared, the one Pied Piper member who always tries to find the good, admits that when he says he likes it, he's actually lying.

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