Apple unveiled the iPhone 13 series to the world with a pinch of new features and hardware improvements. I won’t cover the most obvious elements of the device and focus on the important ones that you need to know about the 13th edition lineup.
New iPhone 13
Apple has updated the previous generation lineup, so you got iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Mini, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPhone 13 Pro Max.
I was surprised that the Cupertino manufacturer decided to continue the Mini lineup when it was struggling to generate sales. Nonetheless, I will cover the important elements of the device that you should know about it, and decide, whether it makes an ideal upgrade or stick to what you have right now.
You can’t do much with hardware upgrades without learning about the upcoming iOS 15 software. We have covered a straightforward guide on the new iOS 15, so you can learn about the software tweaks and improvements.
iPhone 13 Design?
Apple doesn’t refresh the iPhone physical design in a year, and they didn’t even make a minor change in the design.
All new iPhone 13 series have the same design as iPhone 12 lineup.
New Colors?
Apple is enthusiastic about colors, which was shown in the Steve Jobs movie.
Now, you can tell, whether the iPhone 13 is a regular variant or a Pro variant by taking a quick peek at the color.
iPhone 13 and 13 Mini: Red, Starlight, Midnight, Blue, and Pink.
iPhone 13 Pro & Pro Max: Graphite, Gold, Silver, and Sierra Blue.
Meanwhile, the iPhone 13 and 13 Mini is constructed with a ceramic shield front, glass back, and aluminum design.
iPhone 13 Pro & Pro Max gets a little premium treatment, where the housing consists of ceramic shield front, textured matt glass back, and stainless steel design.
Apple started to differentiate the devices between premium and regular models, which is unfair keeping the price tag in mind. The regular iPhone 13 variant is expensive, and they should have covered the housing with stainless steel design.
The Display
I was expecting Apple to find a way to get rid of the notch, while Face ID, sensor, and front camera are placed in front of the screen.
New iPhone lineup has a 30% smaller notch from the last generation, and they managed to compress the notch.
The smartphone is hyped around the higher refresh rate displays, and that’s what you are witnessing in Android devices.
The 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max are equipped with a ProMotion 120 Hz XDR display. Meanwhile, 13 and 13 Mini will have the regular 60Hz Super Retina XDR display.
The display will go from 10 Hz to 120Hz as you use it, and it will be interesting to know, whether the consumer will notice the difference in real-world performance.
Now, your iPhone 13 display is 30% brighter and has up to 800 nits, so you can view the content better during sunny days. Meanwhile, the peak brightness is higher up to 1200 nits, when viewing HDR content.
Meanwhile, the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max have 1000 nits outdoor brightness and 1200 nits maximum HDR brightness.
All New A15 Processor
All iPhone 13 devices will be equipped with an A15 processor with 16 core Neural Engine.
Apple has compared the new processor performance with the competitor, which makes no sense. I mean, the previous generation A14 Bionic processor was ahead of Snapdragon and MediaTek. It would have been compelling if Apple had shown us the comparison between the A14 Bionic Chipset and the A15 processor.
The Cameras
iPhone is known to the world for clicking stunning pictures, and that’s what I love about it as well.
You should notice the bigger camera bump in the new 13th edition, and it gets thicker in the Pro & Pro Max edition.
The 13 & 13 Mini has a dual-camera setup with the same 12 MP sensor and has a bigger aperture. The main sensor has improved optical image stabilization, which should take better videos and low-light pictures.
But the 13 Pro & 13 Pro Max has a bigger upgrade when compared to the regular variants, and that’s where the differentiation begins. Both Pro models are rocking triple-camera setups with 12 MP sensors. All three sensors have a wider aperture, and the combo is Telephoto, Ultra Wide, and Wide lens.
The Telephoto lens has 3x optical zoom when compared to the previous generation that had 2.5x optical zoom.
The new Night Mode in Pro variants may accept exceptional low-lighting photography challenges since it has a capable A15 chip for image processing.
Two Unique Video Features
Apple is taking advantage of the CPU and triple-camera technology in the 13 Pro and Pro Max.
They are calling the two unique features cinematic mode, and ProRes video.
A. Cinematic Mode
Cinematic mode is all about auto-focus and fake blur tricks that you get to see in the movies. The camera will detect the subjects and add fake blur and then shift the focus on the subject naturally to give a cinematic effect. I’m happy that Apple is working on unique features and what you can do with a tiny lens in a portable device.
B. ProRes Video
Apple developed ProRes, which is a lossless and high-quality video compressed file that is used as final format delivery in the industry. Now, you can shoot 4k@30fps ProRes videos in the iPhone default camera and edit them in the smartphone itself.
No smartphone in the current market can shoot ProRes video and edit it on the device itself.
The Unexplained Limitation
Launch events don’t talk about the shortcomings of why they have limited certain things from the system. Apple’s September 2021 event did leave one unexplained note, which the consumers have the right to know about it.
In iPhone 13 Pro Max, under “Video Recorder”, you should find “ProRes video recording up to 4K at 30 fps (1080p at 30 fps for 128GB storage)” limitation.
The base 13 Pro Max model is 128GB, and Apple disabled ProRes video recording in it.
Why?
I assume that the 128GB model is not fast enough to read/write the ProRes videos.
Or, is it because iPhone 13 will run out of storage when shooting videos in ProRes mode?
What is it?
I want to know the answer, which we will find once the iPhone 13 lineup is released in public.
iPhone 13 Pricing Tag
You can check the Apple website for the pricing in your region.
| iPhone | 128GB Storage | 256GB Storage | 512GB Storage | 1TB Storage |
| iPhone 13 | $799 | $999 | $1099 | Not available |
| iPhone 13 Mini | $699 | $899 | $999 | Not available |
| iPhone 13 Pro | $999 | $1099 | $1299 | $1499 |
| iPhone 13 Pro Max | $1099 | $1199 | $1399 | $1599 |
All new iPhone 13 Mini starts at $699, and it is the affordable A15 processor-powered device in the market.
Bottom Line
The new iPhone 13 brings minor developments and features to the table, which begs the question to upgrade it from the 12th edition or stick with it. The 120Hz display in the Pro variants is tempting, and we have to wait for hands-on experience or an official release. Let us know what are your thoughts on the new iPhones in the comment section below.
