I thought it was obvious that the entire ad is CGI. Nothing really breaks how it would. When the top of the piano breaks, all the dampers magically fall off.

Making that ad with CGI would be way more expensive than buying the real objects.

Maybe so, but decisions aren't based only on what's cheapest. A lot of the objects destruct in a way that's more exciting than how they'd compress in reality.

ironically enough, the use of CGI replaces the need/demand for real instruments in making this ad just like how AI is replacing the need/demand for real instruments in creative industries

Wait until you see what goes on at the county landfill.

It happens, and maybe the ad was just CGI, but it doesn't mean I enjoy watching it. Like, the Burger King ads don't show a cow being butchered.

I picked up on the context of all the human experiences we perceive as wrapped up in those items - as sorts of resiviors for human emotion and symbols of self actualization. I think a more apt analogy would be: you wouldn't host an estate sale at the site of that person's funeral.

Given Apple's standards, it's impossible to imagine them crushing a piano in real-life and having it come apart on film in just the way they wanted.

The camera zooms in a lot on certain objects coming apart, so maybe they animated or even re-shot select parts of it, but the overall thing was real?

And then the burger being thrown away.

With "old Macdonald" playing in the background, and disclaimer at the end that the cow was CGI

I feel like I would appreciate an ad where they crushed landfill waste into an iPad.