Apple's 'most expensive iPhone ad ever' hits screens soon with Ted Lasso season 4
The Diamond Dogs are lacing up their football boots once again, as we're heading back to A.F.C. Richmond for some extra time. It's out with the old and in with the new(ish) for season 4 of Ted Lasso, and while we thought we'd seen our last goal back in 2023, it seems Apple's love of the beautiful game was too much of a lure.
Jason Sudeikis plays the titular Ted Lasso, leading the pack as the Kansas City soccer coach who takes a very different career turn that lands him in the UK.
While Apple's team of TV shows continues to grow with the likes of Severance and Pluribus, its latest star signing brings a familiar face back to the streaming service. The first trailer for Ted Lasso is here, and although we're already doing laps of the pitch in excitement ahead of its August 5 release, others have branded it as little more than one giant iPhone ad.
Is Ted Lasso season 4 pushing the iPhone?
Like the changing of the seasons, Apple's annual rollout of the iPhone is a guarantee since Steve Jobs unveiled the OG iPhone back in 2007. The iPhone might not need much marketing, but cleverly, Ted Lasso is promoting them right under our noses. A September 2021 video from the Wall Street Journal noted that in one 29-minute episode of Ted Lasso, there were a whopping 36 shots of Apple products.
This conversation has resurfaced with the release of the season 4 trailer, reminding us that Apple apparently loses $1 billion a year on Apple TV. Over on X, Anish Moonka says that Ted Lasso isn't exactly a cheap show, especially as Sudeikis has seen his pay jump from $300,000 an episode in season 1 to a reported $1 million in season 4.
Apple TV's 45 million paying subscribers are a drop in the ocean when compared to Netflix's 325 million, while the fact that it has less than 1% of all US streaming time means there should be questions about why the service continues.
Still, with Apple making $143.8 billion in revenue and $42 billion in profit in the last three months of 2025, the whole loss of Apple TV barely registers. Mooka reiterated: "That kind of cultural moment is worth more to Apple than any money the streaming service loses.
“Ted Lasso fans buy more Apple products. They stay subscribed longer. They tell their friends, who sign up too."
Referring to each new fan as another monthly check to the tech giant, he concluded that 13 years after Lasso started as a joke in an NBC Sports commercial, "That same character has become one of the most expensive ways Apple has ever found to sell iPhones.
"On August 5, the most expensive iPhone ad ever made premieres as a TV show."
What is Ted Lasso season 4 about?
Instead of Ted Lasso season 4 being more of the same, it represents another change of direction for Sudeikis' clueless coach. After such a long hiatus, you might be wondering what brings the hit series back. Apparently, Lasso is set to take on his "biggest challenge yet", switching changing rooms to coach a second-division women’s football team at AFC Richmond. We see him being mocked in the trailer, with one fan saying: "Welcome back, Coach. Too bad you're coaching a bunch of girls, you w*nker."
The idea of AFC Richmond breaking through with a women's team was floated by Juno Temple's Keeley Jones to Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) in the season 3 finale, with many touting this as a potential way to continue the series back in 2023.
The logline for the 10-episode return states: "Throughout the course of the season, Ted and the team learn to leap before they look, taking chances they never thought they would.”
Who is in Ted Lasso season 4?
It's a return of the old guard for Ted Lasso season 4, with Sudeikis, Waddingham, and Temple all back in action. These fan-favorites are set to be joined by the return of Brett Goldstein as Roy Kent after a brief jump over to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Brendan Hunt's Coach Beard and Jeremy Swift's Leslie Higgins help reunite the Diamond Dogs, but sadly, scheduling conflicts suggest that Phil Dunster (Jamie Tartt) won't be back. Andrea Anders reprises her role as Ted's ex-wife, Michelle, although reconciliation could be on the cards. There's a major recast as Grant Feely takes over as Ted's 13-year-old son, Henry. In terms of newcomers, Sex Education's Tanya Reynolds is said to be playing a new assistant head coach, while Lady Greyhound players include Game of Thrones' Faye Marsay, Such Brave Girls' Jude Mack, and My Lady Jane's Abbie Hern. Finally, there's a mysterious guest role for the legendary Tracey Ullman.
With this pitched as the first of a new three-season arc, let's hope it's not an early shower for Ted Lasso when it returns to our screens on August 5.