Stop laughing! Trademark application suggests Apple was serious about ‘Slofie’

Apple isn’t sloughing off on the “Slofie” — the tech giant recentlyapplied to trademark the new termused to describe the slow-mo selfies possible on the newiPhone 11. Much to the internet’s amusement, Apple used the term to describethe new 120-frames-per-second videopossible in the front-facing camera on the latest round of iPhones. Many thought they were kidding and held on to the hope that the internet wouldn’t be inundated with cringeworthy slow-motion selfie videos — but, alas, the trademark application suggests otherwise.

While the term is new, the Slofie is simply made possible by taking the slow-mo mode already available on the rear-facing iPhone cameras and adding it to the selfie camera. Apple showed off the concept during the iPhone launch event last week using a humor-heavy ad showing a dramatic, wind-blown Slofie — then pulling back to show a teenager and her little brother with a hairdryer. Despite using the term during the presentation, in the new iPhone 11s, the Slofie is called the same slow-mo as the mode that’s on the rear-facing camera.

Slow-motion videos certainly have their place, particularly for action shots, but just how often will the occasion call for a slow-motion video held at arm’s length? Granted, there may be a few occasions where a Slofie is warranted and even fun, but in the wrong hands, the technology could easily make bad selfies even worse. Unless you have a really long selfie stick, Slofies are limited to a head-and-shoulders shot, which will hopefully limit the number we see taking over news feeds.

The selfie’s popularity has lead to the creation of subcategories of “-ie” photographs, like the “groupie,” “shelfie,” “delfie,” or, our personal favorite, just giving someone else the phone to take a“someoneelsie.” Few of the terms have really taken off — though #groupie has more than 700,000 posts on Instagram — but there may be just enough people making fun of the Slofie on Twitter for the term to warrant a Trademark.

Apparently, Apple is willingto spend the $400 Trademark application feeto keep competitors from using the term on their own devices. (An indiscernible blip in the budget for Apple, we know). Unfortunately for the rest of us, a Trademark only prevents using the name, so there’s still the possibility of seeing slow-motion selfies shot on a non-Apple device under a different name. But would a Slofie by any other name look any less cringeworthy?

If the term sticks around, Slofie could be the next duck lips. And no, Apple, that’s not a compliment.