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Apple iPhone 11 memes: Not sold on this fidget spinner look, or 'slofies'

Rumors of three rear-facing cameras started consumer imaginations clicking before the device came out officially.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
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Gael Cooper

Remember The Simpsons episode where Smithers causes a stampede at a toy store because Malibu Stacy has a new hat? Apple manages to create that kind of mania every time it comes out with a new iPhone, no matter how small the upgrade.

Watch this: Apple introduces iPhone 11 with ultra-wide camera

On Tuesday, the company revealed its next-generation phone at an Apple event in Cupertino, California. iPhone rumors and leaks were everywhere in the days leading up to the event, and the idea that one potential update would include three rear-facing cameras had consumers memeing it up with fake mockups on Twitter.

The idea of three separate cameras put some in mind of a fidget spinner.

Or a stove top.

Or a coconut.

Or a bowling ball.

Or a tarsius.

Or aliens.

Or googly eyes.

Also maybe those three cameras have ulterior motives?

Young Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai discovered that the dress she wore on the day the new phone was announced looked a lot like the three cameras.

And some jokes were just about how much the phone is likely to cost. Spoiler: a lot.

But some were wishing they hadn't jumped on the XS Max, since the regular iPhone 11 (not the two fancier versions) is cheaper. 

And early reactions to the newly announced slo-mo selfies called "slofies" can pretty much be summed up in three words: all the nope.  

Apple Event: See the iPhone 11 and Apple Watch Series 5

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Originally published Sept. 10, 9:45 a.m. PT.
Update, 3:21 p.m. PT: Added more tweets.