Apple’s iPhone makes an audio cameo in Minority Report 5 years before it’s released - Macenstein

Apple’s iPhone makes an audio cameo in Minority Report 5 years before it’s released

You know that little sound your iPhone makes when you plug it in to charge? If you’re like me, odds are you never really thought much about it. Frankly I just assumed it was some low level sound wired into the guts of the iPhone. But as faithful Macenstein reader Greg discovered, that sound has been around for some time, and has in fact had a brush with none other than the King of Hollywood Royalty, Tom Cruise.

Untitled from Dr Macenstein on Vimeo.

So I was watching Minority Report on my MBP, and I thought i heard my iPhone being plugged in… in my head phones! I scrubbed back to hear that when the retinal scanner confirms a positive ID it makes the sound when you plug in an iPhone. Funny. Did apple steal this sound? Was it a stock Sound effect from a library? Probably. Just thought I’d share.

What’s interesting about this to me is the realization of the amount of time and thought that must have gone into settling on that particular iPhone “chirp”. Yes, it appears the sound is probably from some standard Hollywood sound effects library, which means it was someone’s job at Apple to sift through 1000’s of sound effects on hundreds of discs, select a number of compelling clips that sounded like what you might imagine a futuristic “connection” sound should sound like, and then odds are, given how high profile the iPhone is, there was a meeting (or more than likely, a series of meetings) where these clips were played to the Apple elite, discussed, tried out, then rediscussed, ultimately resulting in what you hear today.

If only as much thought went into Minority Report.

(here’s a youtube version for the vimeo-impaired).

Comments
12 Responses to “Apple’s iPhone makes an audio cameo in Minority Report 5 years before it’s released”
  1. Sounds weirdly out of place. But I hope you are aware that this film was actually made in 2042 and then send back in time. So ya know.

  2. Eugene says:

    Someone has a lot of free time.

  3. Justin says:

    Great find! I love things like this. (And by the by, tom cruise is the MAN)

  4. Trevor says:

    “Someone has a lot of free time” is an overused statement wielded by individuals who neglect the little, and often most meaningful, details in life. That’s a very humorous clip and no doubt brought a smile to hundreds of readers thanks to Macenstein and Macenstein reader, Greg. I’d say that’s a brilliant use of a the time it took to submit the story, free or not.

  5. Bernd says:

    Very impressed how sensual the mac users are….very good use of time to find apple “things” otherwhere in the world…. :o) I LOVE SUCH THINGS!

  6. Lenny says:

    I just noticed this and Googled to see if anyone else had noticed 😛

    Another thing I noticed is that the ‘accessing data’ sort of noise they use is very similar to the Hero sound effect found on OS X, but with the pitch changed.

  7. Timo says:

    Lol! I just watched the movie on my macbook pro and suddenly i thought: wouh.. my iphone is on the bed.. where the hell was this plug in sound 😀
    and i googled it 😀 funny

  8. Barry says:

    I was just watching minority report and kept hearing this sound and started looking for my iPhone in a wall socket but couldn’t figure out why, since my iPhone was in my pocket.

  9. John says:

    Dang it. I’m only a year and half late. I did learn one thing after searching google for 1/2 hour. Apple calls the sound beep-beep.caf and the search “minority report apple” gets more results than “beep-beep.caf movie”.

  10. BengoFett83 says:

    Was just watching “Minority Report” when i thouht i heard my apple connect to charge. Then i thought i dont have my charge cable so i skipped back a little in the movie and figured out that it came from the movie. Funny detail. So i went to google and searched “minority report sound effect apple charge” and this was the first page. I love the internet. It’s good to know that there are other people who notices details like this and shares it.
    BTW i DO have lots of spare time 🙂

  11. Jonathan says:

    I’m pretty sure there’s yet another sound effect that is in the film and on the iPhone. Press the sleep/wake button to lock the phone’s screen. It makes a kind of two-tiered clicking noise. That same sound is in Minority Report. I’m not sure where it happens, but if you listen for it no doubt you’d be able to find it. I actually missed the phone charge sound effect the first time I watched it.

  12. Michael says:

    How about the sound from ‘Crash Bandicoot’ picking up apples at 46:55, haha

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