Apple strips vocals from Idris Elba's music in iPhone 14 ad

Two months after releasing the ad on YouTube, and after gaining over five million views, Apple has reissued the video without its opening vocals. The company has not commented on its decision, but it is likely that the change was because of a lyric that was commonly being misheard.

The new version of the ad just includes the music element of the dance track "Biggest," by Elba. Originally, the ad used the song from around 65 seconds into the track, at a point where there is a repeated chanting of the word "bigger."

Heard without the first minute's worth of lyrics preceding it, the word can be misheard as a racial slur.

At time of writing, the original version of the ad can still be seen as posted on YouTube by Apple's division in Australia.