Apple to leverage entire ecosystem to transform 2026 F1 US broadcast experience

Apple has already demonstrated its interest in using its own hardware to improve on live coverage of sports, but talking at the Autosport Business Exchange London, Jim DeLorenzo, Apple’s global head of sports, has teased that the company could potentially be looking at doing the same thing for Formula 1.

Apple will take over the 2026 broadcast rights for the United States after proven performance in sports broadcasting, and will be leveraging everything the company has to offer to enhance the current offering.

"When we do a partnership like this, it's not a partnership with Apple Sports or Apple Video, it's a partnership with Apple," he confirmed. "And what that means is that we're gonna bring the entire company to bear to try to figure out how do we grow together with F1, with the teams, with the drivers."

He was careful not to over-commit on specifics, but hints that the Apple ecosystem could be used in a similar way to its previous coverage. 

"Our hardware - as an example, using another sport for a second - we did something this past baseball season where we used iPhones as cameras during a live game. It's the first time that had been done.

F1 Movie scene

Photo by: Apple

"And the reason we did it was because it enhanced the customer experience. That's always our singular goal is: how do we make this better for the customers? How do we make it better for the fans?

"So we are gonna be looking out across the entire Apple ecosystem to try and figure out how to do that. It helps that a lot of our engineers are massive F1 fans," he laughed. 

There's no confirmation that Apple will be leveraging its iPhone camera technology to film over F1 weekends, but its technology was used extensively in the successful F1 movie. 

In partnership with Sony, the company used miniaturised cameras and parts from the iPhone 15 Pro to create custom technology capable of capturing the on-board shots necessary for the movie. With it being recorded in Apple Log ProRes, the video was integrated into the editing process.

It may not be unreasonable to assume Apple is going to consider something similar for its broadcast contract with F1.