Google's new Pixel 5A ad spoofs Apple with humorous ode to the headphone jack
Pixel's launch video parodies ex-Apple designer Jony Ive's pronunciation of aluminum.
- Ty was nominated for Best New Journalist at the Australian IT Journalism awards, but he has only ever won one thing. As a youth, he was awarded a free session for the photography studio at a local supermarket.
The Google Pixel 5A, with headphone jack.
Google has shared a video promoting its new Pixel 5A smartphone that parodies Apple while also announcing the phone has a headphone jack -- a feature most phones on the market now lack.
The Google video starts with a picture of a circle and a Jony Ive-alike announcer saying: "Perfect. Simple. Some might say simply perfect."
It's only 40 seconds into the video, featuring swirling circles and a lush soundtrack, when you realize what the circle in question actually is: a headphone jack.
"Little known fact, the Latin word for circle is circus. Circus? Isn't that delightful," the announcer intones. "And that delight inspired us to reimagine the circle for the new Google Pixel 5A."
Ive worked at Apple from 1992 to 2017, designing many of the company's most successful products, and was famous for his London accent and colorful vocabulary in promotional videos Apple showed at launch events. Here he's taken to task for his correct pronunciation (look it up, science fans) of the element "aluminium," and it even gets its own post-credit sequence: "Al-yuh-min-ee-uhm."
The $449 Google Pixel 5A goes on sale today, but some reviewers -- including CNET's own Eli Blumenthal -- have already had issues with overheating when attempting to shoot 4K video.
Google did not respond immediately to a request for further comment.