[smugma]

What about the video makes you think it was CG?

[rpy]

Are you suggesting the emoji squeeze toy conveniently rolled perfectly to the edge of the hydraulic press at exactly the right moment and then its eyes uniformly popped out? A perfectly uniform explosion of dust actually burst out the press? Seems doubtful.

[jprete]

Using real objects for 90% of that effect is probably the cheapest way to go. The two things you mention could be added in.

[ch_sm]

I don’t know if that’s the case here, but Apple has a long history of doing real-life photoshoots of their products that end up looking like CGI. It’s an extremely clean, perfectionist aesthetic. Realistically, it’s probably a real-life shot with CGI sprinkled in.

[tiagod]

Just because it's not CGI, doesn't mean there isn't a lot of trickery involved. They could have filmed the emoji toy part as stop motion, for example.