Apple’s latest Lunar New Year film, Glad I Met You, is a step in the brand’s efforts to fuse cultural storytelling with smartphone filmmaking. The 12-minute spot, shot entirely on the iPhone 17 Pro, blends live action and handcrafted stop-motion to tell a quietly uplifting tale of unexpected companionship.
The story follows Lin Wei, whose days have settled into a quiet, repetitive rhythm, and a stray dog she names Little White. As the city brightens for the festive season, their chance encounters begin to gather meaning. There are no big dramatic turns here. Instead, a series of small moments slowly pull Lin Wei back towards herself. By the end, she finds a sense of emotional home. That's not as big as romance or resolution. But that connection is modest and lasting.
Visually, the film conceptualised by creative arm TBWA Media Arts Lab, Shanghai, shows a confidence Apple has earned over years of doing this format. The iPhone 17 Pro’s capabilities are cleverly used, they don't tip into a hard sell or a feature dump. Live-action scenes move easily between lantern-lit streets and close, quiet interiors, using the phone’s zoom and lens range to shift scale without drawing attention to the mechanics. The camera lingers on faces and pauses, letting atmosphere do the work.
Apple’s Lunar New Year series now stretches back nine films, from Peter Chan’s 'Three Minutes' in 2018 to Michael Gracey’s 2025 'I Made a Mixtape for You'.
As always, a behind-the-scenes how-to vlog (below) will help audience with all the technical prowess and features like 8x zoom and the Centre Stage front camera
The integrated campaign spans broadcast, digital, and social platforms.
Campaign’s take: TBWA Media Arts Lab and Apple have, by now, a well-worn playbook for CNY, but this instalment feels less like a repetition and more like a refinement. This time, it's about something as simple and resonant as finding connection when you least expect it.
CREDITS:
Brand: Apple
Creative Agency: TBWA\Media Arts Lab, Shanghai
Production Company (Live-Action): Shooting Gallery
Production Company (Stop-Motion): BUCK
Character Design (Stop-Motion): Mackinnon & Saunder
Sound: CODA Music
Finishing: Heckler
Main Film:
Director: Bai Xue
Main Film DOP: Gao Weizhe
Main Film Director of Animal: Hao Shuai
Main Film Editor: Qiao Lin / Yuqing
Main Film Music Gao Xiaoyang / Varqa
