Microsoft’s latest Surface ad contests Apple’s claim that the iPad Pro is a computer in a spectacular display of passive aggression.
The ad is a response to Apple’s latest campaign, which boasts of iPad Pro’s supposed promotion to computer status after getting a smart keyboard accessory. It’s a claim that appears to have irked Microsoft execs.
The retaliatory ad starts with an iPad Pro-powered Siri celebrating its promotion, but Microsoft’s Cortana assistant quickly rains on the assistant’ parade, asking a series of increasingly undermining questions about the iPad’s capabilities. Seriously, the barrage is enough to trigger a full-blown existential crisis.
The general thrust is that the iPad can’t be a computer because it isn’t as powerful as the Surface Pro and it lacks a number of features, like a trackpad and USB ports.
As the Guardian notes, the ad bears a certain resemblance to the I’m a Mac, I’m a PC ads of the late noughties. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite have the same charm.