At Dignity Health Sports Park in Los Angeles on May 23, the visiting Major League Soccer team nearly scored before a defender kicked the ball away at the last second. Fans at home saw it in a brand new way: from an iPhone 17 Pro Max positioned right behind the goal. For the first time in major sports history, a professional game was shot entirely with iPhones. Fifteen iPhones were positioned around the field, all of them iPhone 17 Pro Max models. Eight were shooting with their native lenses, like the one behind the goal. The other seven were shooting directly through massive external zoom lenses attached to the iPhones. The goal was to showcase that viewers could shoot footage at the same level of quality with the iPhone in their pocket.

How The iPhone Broadcast Worked

The 15 iPhone setup gathered footage while minimizing delays from video shot on the field to viewers watching at home. Each iPhone 17 Pro Max was shooting video in 1080p at 60 frames per second. The video was routed from the phone through a USB C to HDMI cable into a converter connected to fiber cable that wound its way to the broadcast center. From there, it was treated like any other footage, managed by a team that sent it out to reach viewers’ screens.

The broadcast center was a portable headquarters that could be pulled by a semi truck, parked deep under the fan seats in the bowels of the stadium. Inside was a cramped setup with three rows of switchboards and screens, all angled toward a master wall of displays showing everything shot by the 15 iPhones at once. Around a dozen people sat in front of these boards, overseen by a headset wearing supervisor rattling off directions. The broadcast center was handling the game just like any other soccer game, with the only difference being that the footage came from phones you could buy off the shelf.

Camera Placement And Positioning

There were two or three more cameras than typically used in previous games. The better value was being able to position iPhones using their regular lenses in places where large lens cameras would not fit, such as behind the goals and facing teams on the sideline. Those bench cameras could not usually get that close. The compactness of the iPhone and being able to put it right there was described as a big step forward for sports broadcasting.

That proximity to players and coaches could offer opportunities for capturing audio on the iPhones’ microphones at some point, but for now the league wanted to be considerate of privacy and mindful of colorful language that may be used during heated moments in a game. The iPhones elsewhere on the field were picking up game audio.

Image Quality And Professional Lenses

The native lenses on the iPhone 17 Pro Max produced quality that was just as good as traditional broadcast equipment. Viewers watching the game likely could not tell the difference, and that was entirely the point. It showcased the recording capability of Apple’s phones.

However, it was not quite so simple for the casual photographer to mimic the footage of those broadcasts, as the external lenses used were expensive. Apple declined to say how much they cost, but they looked similar to professional cinema lenses that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The footage was then run through professional video processing software. Consumers can get their own version with a free app from the same company.

Around the field before the game, camera operators sat in gimbaled chairs with precision controls, smoothly angling the cameras up and down, zooming in and out, and rotating side to side. It looked like any other professional sports broadcast, but in place of an expensive camera receiver, the lens was locked onto an iPhone in a mount.

What This Means For Consumers

The executive producer of live sports at Apple said that the fact that you can use what is in your pocket, the iPhone 17 Pro Max, to go shoot your kid’s soccer game means you can get great broadcast quality that you could using professional grade equipment with a consumer readily available device. While the external lenses used in the broadcast are far too expensive for regular consumers, the native iPhone lenses alone produced footage that was indistinguishable from traditional broadcast cameras to the average viewer.

Pros And Cons

Pros

• First time a major professional sports game was shot entirely with iPhones
• Native iPhone 17 Pro Max lenses produced quality comparable to traditional broadcast equipment
• Compact size allowed placement in areas where large cameras cannot fit, such as behind goals and on sidelines
• Viewers could not tell the difference between iPhone footage and traditional broadcast footage
• Demonstrates that consumers can shoot high quality video with devices they already own
• Broadcast center handled the footage exactly like any other professional sports production
• 1080p at 60 frames per second provided smooth, clear action footage

Cons

• External zoom lenses used on seven of the fifteen iPhones are extremely expensive, likely hundreds of thousands of dollars
• Professional video processing software was still required
• Experienced camera operators were still needed to control the external lens rigs
• Casual consumers cannot easily replicate the full broadcast setup
• League is cautious about using iPhone microphones near players due to privacy and language concerns
• Only demonstrated with iPhone 17 Pro Max, not older or cheaper models