Apple iPhone 13
1. Introduction, specs, unboxing
Introduction
One small reduction of the notch, one giant leap for the iPhone! That’s the best description for the most minor iPhone upgrade yet – the Apple iPhone 13. But even if it won’t make iPhone 12 owners line up for the new model, like it or not, the iPhone 13 is still one of the most powerful smartphones on the market and a bestseller in the making.
The notorious notch, first introduced back with the iPhone X in 2017, spread in mere months across the entire smartphone industry, possibly faster than any other feature so far. It has since evolved into droplets, punch holes, or gone thanks to pop-up or under-screen selfies. But for the first time in four years, Apple has shrunk its size, albeit not by much, and the process of getting rid of it has finally begun. The predictions for the iPhone 14 are already running wild.
It is wrong to focus on just the notch size with iPhone 13. This standard 13 model has a 6.1″ Super Retina XDR OLED screen with Dolby Vision, now with higher brightness, the most powerful mobile chip to date – the Apple A15 Bionic, and three nicely capable 12MP cameras – two at the back and one at the front. Apple has used a new, larger sensor for the main camera and has the sensor-shift stabilization from last year’s 12 Pro Max has trickled down across the entire iPhone 13 lineup.
Other tweaks include doubled base storage, a larger battery, and a couple of exclusive software tricks for the camera like Cinematic mode and Photographic Styles.
And that’s it – a brighter screen with a smaller cutout, a faster chipset, more storage, more battery, and an improved sensor on the main camera. Not the upgrade iPhone 12 users have been hoping for, but a massive one for anyone using an older-gen iPhone.
Apple iPhone 13 specs at a glance:
- Body:Â 146.7×71.5×7.7mm, 174g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass), glass back (Gorilla Glass), aluminum frame; IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 6m for 30 mins), Apple Pay (Visa, MasterCard, AMEX certified).
- Display:Â 6.10″ Super Retina XDR OLED, HDR10, Dolby Vision, 800 nits (typ), 1200 nits (peak), 1170x2532px resolution, 19.48:9 aspect ratio, 460ppi; Wide color gamut, True-tone.
- Chipset:Â Apple A15 Bionic (5 nm): Hexa-core (2×3.22 GHz Avalanche + 4xX.X GHz Blizzard); Apple GPU (4-core graphics).
- Memory:Â 128GB 4GB RAM, 256GB 4GB RAM, 512GB 4GB RAM; NVMe.
- OS/Software:Â iOS 15.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 12 MP, f/1.6, 26mm, 1.7µm, dual pixel PDAF, sensor-shift OIS; Ultra wide angle: 12 MP, f/2.4, 120˚, 13mm.
- Front camera:Â Wide (main): 12 MP, f/2.2, 23mm, 1/3.6″;Â Depth: SL 3D.
- Video capture:Â Rear camera: 4K@24/30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps, HDR, Dolby Vision HDR (up to 60fps), stereo sound rec;Â Front camera: 4K@24/25/30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, gyro-EIS.
- Battery:Â 3240mAh; Fast charging 20W, 50% in 30 min (advertised), USB Power Delivery 2.0, MagSafe wireless charging 15W, Qi magnetic fast wireless charging 7.5W.
- Misc:Â Face ID, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer; NFC; Siri natural language commands and dictation, Ultra Wideband (UWB) support.
The biggest letdown has to be the missing ProMotion support – the 120Hz refresh rate is exclusive to the Pro models this year, and we guess the base models will have to wait a year or two before they are allowed to have it. The ultrawide camera autofocus upgrade is also exclusive to the Pro series, which is not great, but it’s what Apple usually does, so not surprising either.
With the ongoing chip crisis, among other production problems due to the pandemic and lack of resources, the iPhone 13 devices will face various delays with production and shipping, but doesn’t this happen every year? Oh, well…
Unboxing the iPhone 13
There is not a whole lot to unbox with the iPhone 13 as Apple has expelled everything but the USB cable from the iPhone retail boxes with the goal of reducing electronic waste, the extra profit being just a bonus. This year it has gone even greener by ditching the plastic wrapping – wherever wrapping was needed, Apple has used paper stickers.
So, inside this thin and lightweight box, you will find the iPhone 13 and a USB-C to Lightning cable.
Apple has still not switched to USB-C on the iPhones for various reasons, most of them being accessories compatibility and electronic waste. The EU Commission is pressing for such change, so we are either seeing the last of Lightning-capable iPhones or, knowing Apple, the last of the iPhones with any sort of USB ports.
The small paper compartment contains some paperwork, the SIM-ejection pin and one Apple sticker.
2. Design, build quality, handling
The iPhone 13 is the iPhone 12 with three minor changes – diagonally-placed rear cameras, a smaller screen cutout, and a bit heavier body. Having said that, the iPhone 13 is still one of the most beautiful yet simple smartphones, with one of the most durable and water-resistant designs. Oh, and it’s unexpectedly grippy!
There can’t be a new iPhone without at least one new color, and for the iPhone 13, that’s Pink. It comes to replace the cool green option introduced last year, which was likable, but it’s no longer around.
The iPhone 13 shares a lot of body elements with the iPhone 12. In fact, the design and shape are mostly the same, with a few minor differences here and there. For starters, the iPhone 13 has its two rear cameras aligned diagonally instead of vertically.
That’s probably not a design choice for the sake of difference but was most probably needed because of the new larger sensor on the primary camera and its sensor-shift stabilization.
Moving on to the front, the most obvious change is the size of the screen notch. It is shorter on the iPhone 13, but if we are to be finicky, it’s also about a millimeter thicker.
The Face ID sensors and the front camera are still the same, and the earpiece is also a stereo speaker.
And while we are looking at it, the speaker grille is now a separate component with its own frame instead of a thin mesh below a cutout. We don’t know why this complication was necessary, but we hope it’s for the best.
The iPhone 13 is exactly as big as the iPhone 12, of course, but due to the larger battery and different components, it is now 10 grams heavier and 0.3mm thicker. The extra weight is fine, we always appreciate more battery, but this whisker of new thickness will be problematic for reusing iPhone 12 cases.
Now that we saw the new and the old iPhone, let’s take a close look at this pink-ish iPhone 13.
It has a flat Ceramic Shield at the front, which covers the 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED panel. The bezels are the same as on the iPhone 12, the notch is smaller, while the screen brightness can now reach 800 nits. The Shield has proven quite sturdy on the iPhone 12, and we expect it to be just as good on the iPhone 13.
The back of the iPhone 13 is covered by a flat tempered glass made by Corning. The Apple logo is here, of course, and it’s mirrored as always.
The camera square is jutting out like before, but it’s thicker than on the iPhone 12, and the new model wobbles a whole lot more when resting on a desk.
There are two camera rings on top of that square glass, and the two sapphire crystal covers for the lenses are extending above the said metal rings. As usual, the non-Pro models have glossy rear panels and matte camera spots, while the Pro models have it the other way around.
Aside from the two 12MP snappers, here you can also spot the dual-LED flash and one of the microphones.
This is where you get our usual warning about leaving the iPhone 13 on a glass table or worse, stacking it on another phone/tablet. The lens cover(s) will scratch the glass or your friend’s phone/tablet quite easily.
One of the things we all loved about the iPhone 12 series, and now on the iPhone 13 as well, are the flat frames. They offer incredible grip, a massive boost over the curvy iPhone 11s, which were impossible to lift from a desk if used without a case. And they allow the iPhones to stand on their own, whatever that’s worth.
The iPhone 13 has an aluminum frame with a matte finish sprayed with the same pink color as the back. The Pro models use polished to perfection stainless-steel frames to show off their premium-ness.
The left of the iPhone 13 has a lot of stuff – the silencer is here, followed by the two-volume keys, and finally, you can see the nanoSIM tray.
The right side has the long Side key, which has many functions – lock/unlock, Siri activation, and Apple Pay summoning.
Finally, the bottom side houses the mouthpiece, the Lightning port, and the second stereo speaker.
The iPhone 13 is fully waterproofed – it is IP68-rated for dust and water resistance, but Apple promises it can survive for 30 minutes in 6-meters deep water, which goes beyond the traditional IP68 specs. Remember, phones are waterproofed against clean water only, if not stated otherwise, and any sea/saltwater is bad for your phone and will most probably be the end of it.
Handling the iPhone 13 is one of the loveliest experiences we’ve had with a smartphone since, well, the iPhone 12. It is incredibly grippy, it strikes the perfect balance between compact size and multimedia-friendly screen, and is nicely thin and lightweight without giving up on power or battery capacity (as far as typical iPhone numbers go).
Apple has always been putting an oleophobic coating on its glass panels, and the iPhone 13 is no different. Thanks to this extra layer, it takes more time for smudges to accumulate and then it’s quite easy to clean – one wipe with your palm or shirt is usually enough.
Design-wise, there is nothing we would change on the iPhone 13. It’s one of the most balanced smartphones on the market, one of the sturdiest and most protected ones, too, and we simply loved it.
3. Lab tests – display, battery life, charging speed, speakers
One bright 6.1″ Dolby Vision OLED screen
The Apple iPhone 13 has a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED screen, the same size as the iPhone 12’s. It supports HDR10 and Dolby Vision but features a few updates like a reduced notch and brighter panel. Sadly, the 120Hz ProMotion mode is exclusive to the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max.
The OLED panel has 1,170 x 2,532 pixels or 460ppi. It is protected with a flat Ceramic Shield glass by Corning.
So, the iPhone 13 display supports the standard 60Hz refresh rate, while the touch sensors should be working with 120Hz sampling. The panel supports HDR10 and Dolby Vision, it should offer 800nits of typical maximum brightness and 1,200 nits of peak brightness when watching HDR content.
The iPhone 13 screen also supports True Tone adjustments, Wide Color, and it has the Haptic Touch feature provided by a powerful Taptic Engine.
We’ve completed our usual display measurements, and we captured 802nits of maximum brightness. The minimum brightness is impressively low at 1.7 nits.
There is no Auto Brightness boost on any of the iPhones, but that’s understandable – Apple has always allowed its users to use the maximum brightness if they ever felt they needed it.
Display test | 100% brightness | ||
Black, |
White, |
Contrast ratio | |
Apple iPhone 13 | 0 | 802 | ∞ |
Apple iPhone 12 | 0 | 639 | ∞ |
Apple iPhone 12 Pro | 0 | 802 | ∞ |
Samsung Galaxy S21 5G | 0 | 416 | ∞ |
Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (Max Auto) | 0 | 856 | ∞ |
Asus Zenfone 8 | 0 | 440 | ∞ |
Asus Zenfone 8 (Max Auto) | 0 | 800 | ∞ |
Realme GT 5G | 0 | 443 | ∞ |
Realme GT 5G (Max Auto) | 0 | 650 | ∞ |
Realme GT Explorer Master | 0 | 504 | ∞ |
Realme GT Explorer Master (Max Auto) | 0 | 805 | ∞ |
Apple iPhone 11 Pro | 0 | 805 | ∞ |
Apple iPhone 11 | 0.428 | 644 | 1505:1 |
Apple iPhone X | 0 | 679 | ∞ |
The iPhone 13 panel has outstanding color accuracy – we measured an average deltaE of 1.6 against sRGB targets. The panel fully supports DCI-P3, and it automatically switches to this gamma when DCI-P3 content is sent to the screen.
Apple iPhone 13’s screen does something that only few screens do – it maintains the same perfect color accuracy across all brightness levels, even at the lowest point of 1.9 nits!
The iPhone 13’s biggest screen updates are the smaller notch and the higher brightness. The reduction of the cutout isn’t as major as some have hoped, but it’s the start of a process that will eventually lead to its extinction. And it was about time!
Battery life
The Apple iPhone 13 packs a 3,240mAh battery – a very welcome 15% upgrade over the iPhone 12. Apple promises at least 2 extra hours of video playback and up to 4 extra hours of video streaming time compared to the iPhone 12.
And we did get better results! Compared to the iPhone 12, the iPhone 13 clocked 3 additional hours on web browsing and nearly 4 more hours on our video test. The uninspiring call and standby performances are shared across the iPhones and hence the lower-than-expected endurance rating of 89 hours.
The endurance rating denotes how long the battery charge will last you if you use the device for an hour of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily.
To adjust the endurance rating formula to match your own usage patterns check out our all-time battery test results chart where you can also find all phones we’ve tested.
Charging speed
Apple’s charging hasn’t changed since the iPhone 12 series. Apple’s official specs are vague about the maximum charging power the iPhone 13 phones can achieve with USB-PD powered adapters, but the tests show the iPhone 13’s fast charging maxes out at 23W. Apple is offering 20W USB-PD chargers as an extra purchase. It is a standard USB-PD charger with USB-C port, so you could get any third-party USB-PD charger instead – there are more compact, as well as cheaper options out there.
The iPhone 13 also supports fast wireless charging. To achieve the maximum of 15W, you need to use Apple’s MagSafe charger, otherwise, any Qi-compatible would do for slow 5W-7W charging.
So, if you plug the iPhone 13 in Apple’s 20W charger, it will refill 54% of its dead battery in half an hour. If you hook it on a MagSafe charger – then you will get 32% in 30 minutes.
30min charging test (from 0%)
Higher is better
- SORT BY LABEL
- SORT BY VALUE
- Realme GT 5G (65W)87%
- Asus Zenfone 860%
- Apple iPhone 1258%
- Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (25W PD)55%
- Apple iPhone 1354%
- Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (18W QC3.0)40%
- Apple iPhone 13 (MagSafe)32%
- Apple iPhone 12/Pro (MagSafe)30%
A full charge on a cable requires 106 minutes, which is a bit absurd as the iPhone 13 reaches 80% in 50 minutes, and the last 20% chage require additional 56 minutes to top off!
A full charge on the wireless MagSafe charger takes 2 hours 19 minutes – that’s 41 minutes faster than last year. Nice!
Time to full charge (from 0%)
Lower is better
- SORT BY LABEL
- SORT BY VALUE
- Realme GT 5G (65W)0:39h
- Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (25W PD)1:13h
- Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (18W QC3.0)1:25h
- Asus Zenfone 81:28h
- Apple iPhone 121:30h
- Apple iPhone 131:46h
- Apple iPhone 13 (MagSafe)2:19h
- Apple iPhone 12/Pro (MagSafe)3:00h
Speaker loudness and quality
The iPhone 13 offers the same powerful speakers as the iPhone 12 smartphones. The first speaker is inside the notch and also acts as an earpiece when necessary, while the other one is at the bottom next to the Lightning port.
The speakers support spatial audio and Dolby Atmos, and we know we’ve said this before, but the output sounds exactly as promised – less directional and more spatial compared to other phones.
The iPhone 13 scored yet another Very Good mark for Apple, and we have to admire this consistency.
The audio quality is expectedly amazing – there is nice bass, the mid-tones are lovely, and the high-notes are superb as well. Indeed, the iPhone 13 has one of the best stereo speakers a smartphone can offer right now.
X | Apple iPhone 13 | Apple iPhone 12 | Samsung Galaxy S21 5G | Asus Zenfone 8 |
---|---|---|---|---|
27.258 | -23.828 | -24.556 | -25.19 | -7.942 |
44.348 | -10.373 | -10.977 | -26.501 | -6.642 |
65.574 | -6.948 | -10.08 | -24.644 | -7.995 |
91.616 | -10.947 | -10.862 | -22.672 | -10.767 |
123.122 | -6.228 | -6.399 | -15.331 | -7.709 |
160.746 | -1.949 | -4.345 | -8.144 | -9.378 |
205.164 | 0.55 | -2.624 | -6.419 | -7.822 |
257.068 | -3.651 | -6.079 | -12.584 | -7.761 |
317.168 | -7.629 | -7.5 | -7.309 | -9.953 |
386.189 | -16.709 | -15.328 | -11.729 | -9.989 |
464.863 | -25.866 | -19.73 | -10.19 | -15.33 |
553.931 | -17.768 | -15.63 | -7.839 | -9.683 |
654.134 | -11.257 | -9.033 | -6.686 | -7.833 |
766.209 | -12.895 | -8.298 | -7.511 | -13.566 |
890.88 | -10.363 | -5.457 | -3.579 | -10.407 |
1,028.86 | -5.797 | -3.896 | -2.104 | -2.186 |
1,180.84 | 1.179 | -4.574 | 2.97 | -0.666 |
1,347.49 | 5.291 | -1.973 | 7.445 | 2.496 |
1,529.42 | 6.874 | 4.699 | 10.878 | 6.277 |
1,727.23 | 10.136 | 11.561 | 12.527 | 7.637 |
1,941.47 | 13.629 | 14.233 | 13.782 | 7.862 |
2,172.62 | 13.033 | 11.778 | 11.7 | 8.976 |
2,421.12 | 12.764 | 13.017 | 16.083 | 6.801 |
2,687.33 | 17.046 | 18.252 | 20.584 | 7.483 |
2,971.55 | 17.123 | 16.294 | 17.234 | 14.065 |
3,274.01 | 11.48 | 8.696 | 9.897 | 15.981 |
3,594.84 | 7.463 | 5.573 | 2.523 | 15.244 |
3,934.11 | 7.319 | 7.751 | 6.235 | 9.006 |
4,291.77 | 8.453 | 10.494 | 12.306 | 3.768 |
4,667.69 | 9.938 | 11.443 | 13.13 | 7.958 |
5,061.66 | 8.418 | 8.105 | 10.634 | 14.187 |
5,473.35 | 6.863 | 5.621 | 6.848 | 16.664 |
5,902.32 | 7.566 | 6.168 | 4.737 | 15.404 |
6,348.04 | 9.187 | 8.346 | 6.179 | 14.199 |
6,809.87 | 9.287 | 9.022 | 8.342 | 13.564 |
7,287.07 | 10.165 | 10.062 | 10.055 | 12.569 |
7,778.78 | 11.784 | 11.856 | 10.052 | 13.152 |
8,284.06 | 14.824 | 15.261 | 9.448 | 15.627 |
8,801.83 | 16.221 | 17.008 | 10.382 | 16.217 |
9,330.94 | 15.914 | 16.32 | 12.474 | 15.925 |
9,870.15 | 13.308 | 14.52 | 15.736 | 15.804 |
10,418.1 | 9.847 | 10.58 | 17.547 | 16.522 |
10,973.3 | 5.934 | 4.917 | 18.563 | 17.461 |
11,534.4 | 0.716 | -2.548 | 17.85 | 18.411 |
12,099.6 | -4.346 | -9.282 | 15.102 | 18.94 |
12,667.3 | -8.894 | -13.892 | 11.372 | 19.128 |
13,235.9 | -11.985 | -15.897 | 7.819 | 18.252 |
13,803.4 | -12.864 | -17.537 | 4.609 | 16.279 |
14,368.2 | -13.678 | -19.033 | 1.475 | 14.415 |
14,928.3 | -14.767 | -20.351 | -1.818 | 12.421 |
15,481.8 | -16.172 | -21.969 | -4.94 | 10.115 |
16,026.8 | -18.261 | -23.135 | -7.292 | 8.332 |
16,561.4 | -20.205 | -23.628 | -8.613 | 6.366 |
17,083.7 | -21.711 | -23.652 | -9.351 | 3.39 |
17,591.8 | -22.854 | -23.494 | -10.359 | 0.174 |
18,083.7 | -23.512 | -23.201 | -11.549 | -2.327 |
18,557.8 | -23.722 | -22.899 | -12.48 | -4.211 |
19,012 | -23.758 | -22.603 | -13.129 | -5.763 |
19,444.8 | -23.703 | -22.31 | -13.932 | -7.292 |
19,854.4 | -23.583 | -22.087 | -15.028 | -8.542 |
4. Software, performance
Apple iOS 15 on the iPhone 13
All new iPhones come with Apple’s iOS 15 out of the box. It’s not a major update over iOS 14, but it does round many UI elements shapes such as settings menus and icons, notifications, buttons. The new version improves heavily on FaceTime and Messages, Notification management, Safari browser (now with extensions), Wallet and Maps. It also makes Photos and Spotlight even more intelligent, while the Camera app can now read and let you copy text in real-time.
Let’s take a closer look at the iPhone 13’s iOS 15 now. Its interface is still based on homescreens populated with apps and widgets, App Library for your less important apps, and Notification and Control Centers.
The lockscreen on iOS 15 remains intact – it’s one with the Notification Center and houses your notifications (privacy options are available), plus shortcuts for the torch and the camera. You can get past it via Face ID or PIN if you’ve opted for secure unlock.
Your apps usually populate the homescreen(s) and widgets. There are two specific screens – the leftmost is Today page, while the rightmost page – App Library.
You to hide specific homescreens – you may have a page that’s full of games and hide when at work or hide a page of work/school apps when on vacation. You can’t opt-out of Today and App Library, though.
Apple iOS 15 has a new Focus option, which switches between different modes like Work, Personal, Driving, Gaming, Do Not Disturb, among others, and it is now the best way to automatically hide/show homescreen pages. We’ll get to it in a bit.
Lockscreen • Homescreen • Today • App Library • Hide homescreens
If you don’t like the App Library, you can continue to use iOS 15 the old way and completely ignore the feature. There is no option to disable the App Library page, though.
Widgets can be placed on any of the homescreens and the Today page, and they can coexist with app icons. There are three widget sizes supported by iOS 14 – 2×2, 4×2, and 4×4.
You can stack widgets of the same size on top of one another. Once you have a stack, you can either have the OS automatically choose which is the most relevant widget to surface to the top of the stack automatically. Or you can also flip through the stack manually by swiping up or down until you find the widget you need. And we love stacked widgets – it’s a real space saver – especially if you combine a frequently used widget at the top with less frequently used ones in the stack below it.
Widgets • Widgets • Widgets • Stacked Widgets • Settings
The App Library is an app drawer, which is always your rightmost homescreen pane. Apps are added automatically to the App Library upon installation. The sorting is also an automatic process, and you can’t edit the categories or move apps in different categories. The app sorting depends on the App Store tags the developer has used upon uploading the apps.
The App Library has three settings only – Add new apps to Homescreen and App Library, Add to App Library only, and Show Notification Badges in App Library. That’s it.
The App Library is where you are going to ditch your least used apps to die.
App Library
The Today page is still alive, but barely. You put the same widgets and stacks you can on your homescreen(s). Here you can also use the old third-party widgets that haven’t been optimized yet for newer iOS versions. The old widgets come right after the new ones, should you choose to use some new ones, of course.
The Notification Center is summoned with a swipe from the left horn or the notch. The pane was unified with the lockscreen in iOS 11, and that’s why you can have different wallpapers on your homescreen and notification center.
The Control Center, which has customizable and (some) expandable toggles, is called with a swipe from the right horn. You can use haptic touch to access additional controls. And the battery percentage is also here.
Today • Today settings • Notification Center • Control Center
The navigation gestures stay the same as they were on the iPhone X. Swipe upwards from the bottom line to close an app, swipe and stop midway for task switcher, swipe from the side of the screen for back and forward. You can also swipe on the line left or right to switch to your recently used apps instantaneously.
The Back Tap is a cool accessibility shortcut. It recognizes double and triple tap on the back of the phone, and you can assign whatever you like. We chose ‘Take a screenshot’ and ‘Control Center,’ but it is really up to you.
Gestures • Task Switcher • Moving between apps • Back • Closing an app • Back Tap
There is a system-wide Dark Mode. You can enable it manually or schedule it from within Display Settings, and it switches to dark all-white backgrounds across iOS. The Dark Mode affects all system apps but also apps that rely on system backgrounds. You can also check the option to darken the homescreen wallpaper when in Dark Mode.
Dark Mode
Some of the novelties that come with Apple iOS 15 include better FaceTime service, smarter Spotlight search engine, Focus modes, improved Safari browser and Weather app, and more.
The new FaceTime app looks more and more like Zoom, and it now supports Grid view! It has a cleaner interface, supports background blur, spatial audio, and most importantly – it can make conference calls, and non-Apple users can join the fun, too, by using an invite link and Chrome of Edge web browser.
The Apple users can enhance their microphone with Voice Isolation or Wide Spectrum and let others hear them much better.
FaceTime
Notifications got a design overhaul and a few new features. The appearance of notifications is tweaked for better visibility, like a larger contact icon, and iOS notifications will be more granular.
Focus in Control Center
You can set “Focus” profiles that filter the priority notifications while you’re working or gaming, for instance, and it will also let people know if they can reach you. In addition to filtering notifications and calls, each Focus mode can be configured to show/hide certain homescreens, dim the lockscreen, and schedule or trigger this mode by certain events. There are a few pre-defined Focus modes – Do Not Disturb, Driving, Night, Work, Pleasure, but you can also add Gaming, Fitness, Reading or create entirely custom ones.
Notifications • Focus
And because the Focus modes filter notifications by importance, there is a new Notification Summary option that shows a single tile of gathered unimportant notifications rather than a long string of missed ones. It can be scheduled to pop up a few times per day.
Focus
The Safari web browser has seen quite the upgrade. First, the address bar is now at the bottom of the screen, easily accessible, and you can swipe on it left or right to switch tabs (in portrait mode) just like you fast scroll between apps via swipes on the infamous line. The address bar auto-hides when you start scrolling, of course.
Safari
The browser now supports extensions; you can download such from the App Store.
Download an extension • Extension settings • Using the QR extension
The Weather app has a new interface, and it supports weather maps.
Weather
Apple Wallet gets support for new types of keys, like House and Hotel room keys. Apple has partnered with Hyatt Hotels, letting Apple Wallet store a hotel key and use it to enter a room. The Hotel can choose when to activate the key.
Apple Wallet will be able to incorporate UWB technology to work with smart car keys – automatically unlocking a supported car and allowing it to start without the need to take the iPhone out.
Finally, users in supported US states will be able to add their Identity Card to Wallet and use them to pass certain security checkpoints, like at an airport.
Siri – Apple’s digital assistant – is used by 400+ million people monthly. You summon it by holding the ‘side’ key (the Power key). You can do all sorts of things with Siri – from questions and translations through setting up reminders and sending replies to asking for reservations or tickets, directions, and whatnot. Siri Knowledge also lets your iPhone recognize items and landmarks in your gallery.
Siri Shortcuts are available within a standalone app. You can assign a shortcut to so many things that it will take many pages to describe them. You can script almost anything available within iOS itself, a lot of stuff from within the system apps, and some advanced actions from any well-known apps such as YouTube or Facebook. The scripting options are also available throughout various system apps, allowing you to activate reminders, initiate calls, and switch to different notification modes via scripted events.
Siri UI • Siri answer • Siri shortcuts
PiP or Picture-in-Picture mode was finally introduced with iOS 14. It does precisely what the name suggests – minimizes your currently playing video within a hovering pop-up over the iOS UI or other apps.
PiP is supported in Apple TV, Podcasts, Safari, FaceTime, iTunes, Home, YouTube, and any other third-party app that chooses to add support for it.
Picture in Picture • PiP
The multimedia is handled by Apple’s default apps – Photos, Music, TV.
The Photos app’s library has four different views – Years, Months, Days, and All Photos. Days, Months, and Years tabs use what the AI considers as best pictures at a glance, and this way, all the clutter gets filtered – you won’t see screenshots, notes, or even duplicates. When you scroll through your images in these three categories, all live photos and videos will play automatically (muted). Also, your best photos or videos will show in bigger thumbnails.
AI-powered search option and powerful photo and video edit modes are available, as usual.
Photos
The Photos app has three new features, part of the iOS 15 update. The first one is the new album called Shared with me, where you’d find images that were shared with you in iMessages.
Apple has improved the Memories feature by making it more intelligent and powerful – the algorithm selects the best (live) photos and videos and makes a short film, which now uses automatic color and contrast correction for a consistent look and features integration with Apple Music by choosing a relevant song automatically for the film. You can edit this auto-generated film later, of course.
Finally, the Photos app offers detailed information for each photo – full EXIF info and location on the map.
Memories • Memories • More details
The TV app is part of iOS 15, and it is your default video player for locally stored movies and shows you’ve added via iTunes. This is also the digital store for movies and TV shows, and it is also the place where you find the Apple TV+ streaming service. A bit overwhelming, but you get used to it eventually.
TV
Music is the default player, and it relies heavily on Apple Music. But even if you decide not to use the streaming service, it can still do an excellent job if you have a few minutes to add your songs via iTunes. Realistically, adding music tracks via iTunes requires as few clicks as it would take to copy them via Windows Explorer, so there is no overhead. The requirement to download and install iTunes in the first place, however, can be off-putting to Windows PC users.
Music
The Camera app now supports Live Text feature – if you point the camera towards text, a text icon will appear – if you tap on it, you will be able to (scan and) copy or look up the text you are seeing. Neat!
Live text
Books are here for your documents, PDFs, and eBooks. Stocks and News are onboard. Safari is your default web browser, and it has a Download manager and some enhanced privacy options we will talk about in a minute.
Apple Maps has become quite powerful and feature-rich over the years. Some of the recent highlight functions include cycling directions, elevation info, a new EV routing factor, improved guides and recommendations. You can even see speed cameras and red-light cameras in some areas.
The Maps app in iOS 15 has been improved with AR guidance when using public transport for easier orientation.
Maps
You can change your default browser and mail client since iOS 14, but you cannot do that with your Maps app, unfortunately.
Finally, Apple Pay is on board, of course, and Sign-in with Apple is pushed everywhere. You can use this to quickly sign into apps with your Apple account, authenticating with FaceID and with two-factor authentication included. Apple will send the app a unique random ID. If an app demands your email address, you can choose to give it your actual email or a random one automatically created by Apple for you with built-in forwarding.
Some of the upcoming iOS 15 features that will be seeded later this year include SharePlay, App Privacy Report, and CSAM Detection.
SharePlay lets you use, listen or watch content with other FaceTime participants. You can share any Apple TV+ or Apple Music track over a FaceTime call. You can watch or listen via AirPlay on your AirPlay-compatible TV, too.
App Privacy report is something Android users have known for a long time – you will be able to see which apps have access and have been using that access to microphones, camera, location and your photos.
Finally, CSAM Detection will come with several child safety features within Messages and iCloud photos – it will track for explicit content, blur it and issue a warning screen and an alert to the parent account.
Performance and benchmarks
The latest Apple A15 Bionic chip powers all iPhone 13 models. It is the second 5nm Apple chip (second-gen 5nm TSMC process) and packs the whopping 15 billion transistors – that’s 27% more than the A14 within the iPhone 12 phones.
The new A15 chip still relies on a hexa-core processor with 2 big Avalanche cores clocked at 3.23GHz and 4 small Blizzard cores working at 1.82GHz. The upgraded processor should deliver a 50% higher performance than the competition, whatever that means (Snapdragon 865 maybe?).
There is an improved 5-core Apple GPU for the Pro models and 4-core Apple GPU for the non-Pro devices such as our iPhone 13 here.
The new A15 has a new 16 core Neural Engine, too, powering features such as on-device voice and image recognition and other advanced machine learning tasks. On top of that, there is a new ISP on board, twice the amount of cache, as well as a new display engine and new video encoders and decoders.
The iPhone 13 has 4GB of RAM, while the Pro models enjoy 6GB of RAM.
The Apple A15 Bionic also comes with Qualcomm’s X60 5G modem.
We ran the usual benchmark apps, and as expected, the Apple A15 Bionic processor seems to be the best in the world, miles ahead of the competition. It offers a 15% boost over the A14 in multi-core performance and a 10% jump in single-core operations.
GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- SORT BY LABEL
- SORT BY VALUE
- Apple iPhone 134645
- Apple iPhone 124067
- Huawei Mate 40 Pro (perf. mode)3704
- Asus Zenfone 83604
- Realme GT 5G3555
- Samsung Galaxy S21 5G3238
GeekBench 5 (single-core)
Higher is better
- SORT BY LABEL
- SORT BY VALUE
- Apple iPhone 131727
- Apple iPhone 121605
- Realme GT 5G1139
- Asus Zenfone 81118
- Samsung Galaxy S21 5G1032
- Huawei Mate 40 Pro (perf. mode)1020
The iPhone 13 has a new 4-core Apple GPU, while the Pro models have a 5-core GPU. And this shows on the GPU tests, of course. But even if the Pro models have a more powerful GPU, the regular iPhone 13 graphics are still much better than the iPhone 12’s.
GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- SORT BY LABEL
- SORT BY VALUE
- Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max178
- Apple iPhone 13150
- Apple iPhone 12132
- Apple iPhone 11121
- Apple iPhone XR97
- Apple iPhone X65
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- SORT BY LABEL
- SORT BY VALUE
- Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max121
- Apple iPhone 1398
- Apple iPhone 1176
- Apple iPhone XR60
- Apple iPhone 1258
- Apple iPhone X37
Finally, AnTuTu also says the iPhone 13 is at least 10% more powerful than the iPhone 12.
AnTuTu 9
Higher is better
- SORT BY LABEL
- SORT BY VALUE
- Apple iPhone 13775519
- Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max775414
- Apple iPhone 12692020
The new Apple chip performance has never been among the reasons to upgrade. Sure, it’s the fastest mobile chip in the world, and if this were an Android phone, it would have meant the world. But it’s not. Apple’s chipsets have always been ahead of their time, and their full utilization usually happens in a few years, so whether it’s A15, A14 or even A13 – it’s not that important. What matters are the new features the SoC enables, like Cinematic Mode and Dolby Vision at 60fps capturing on the A15, Deep Fusion on the A14, etc.
So, if gaming is concerned, it’s flawless on the iPhone 13, with great visual quality and zero stutters.
We also ran CPU and GPU stability tests as we do for all our reviews lately.
First, we ran the CPU stress test (APSI Bench) for 30 minutes. The cooling system allowed the CPU to keep 78% of its maximum performance, which is outstanding for such a thin glass phone.
Then, we ran a GPU Stress Test via the 3D Mark Wild Life app. The iPhone 13 throttled down to 63.2% of its maximum performance when working at 100% for 20 minutes – not inspiring but still a good number. And it did not fall any further, we ran this test for two hours, and in 40-50 minutes it actually climbed to 75% and stabilized there .
The phone did not get unpleasantly hot during these stress tests, but it did become noticeably warm.
CPU test • GPU test
The iPhone 13 does a marvelous job when running games – there is not a single modern game that doesn’t run smoothly and with the best graphics. It doesn’t get that hot while doing it, and it can keep offering such smooth gaming for about 9-10 hours before the battery dies.
It also has the fastest chip in the world to date, and we cannot really ask for more. We know 4GB RAM might seem laughable for Android, but iOS and its apps manage perfectly fine with such capacity because of Apple’s optimizations and way of handling apps. It is enough. Most games pause when minimized. The worst that can happen is some of your minimized apps may need to restart if too much time has passed after you’ve minimized them. But this seems to be valid for any phone, isn’t it?
5. Camera, photo and video quality
Dual camera, sensor-shift stabilization
The Apple iPhone 13 offers a similar camera setup to the iPhone 12’s. There are two 12MP cameras on the back and one 12MP selfie shooter at the front. The SL 3D scanner for Face ID assists the Portrait mode in selfies.
There are two hardware upgrades and a couple of software ones available for the iPhone 13.
The primary 12MP camera has gotten a new sensor with larger pixels and high-end sensor-shift stabilization. It now uses a larger Sony sensor with 1.7µm pixels (vs. 1.4µm on the iPhone 12). The lens is 26mm f/1.6, like on the iPhone 12’s main camera, but the stabilization is of a different kind. Instead of optical stabilization, this camera now uses the iPhone 12 Pro Max’s sensor-shift stabilization. This means the sensor itself is stabilized in real-time and not the lens akin to the in-body stabilization or IBIS seen on many large-sensor digital cameras.
The secondary camera is identical to the iPhone 12’s – a 12MP imager with 1.0µm pixels and 14mm f/2.4 lens for ultrawide photos. The focus is fixed, and there is no stabilization.
The selfie camera is also lifted straight from the iPhone 12. It has a 12MP sensor with 1.0µm pixels and a 23mm f/2.2 lens. The focus is once again fixed. When using portrait mode on this camera, it captures depth info with the structured-light 3D scanner, so it should be taking some impressive selfies portraits.
All three snappers support up to 4K@60fps video capturing with Cinematic Stabilization and Expanded Dynamic Range. Dolby Vision HDR capturing is possible on all cameras in all modes. The new Cinematic Mode works on the primary and selfie shooters only.
Camera app and features
The viewfinder has been mostly the same since the iOS 13 and the iPhone 11 – you can see outside of the viewfinder thanks to the precise calibration of the two cameras that allows seeing what will be left outside of the frame in real-time.
The Apple image processing includes all legacy features like Smart HDR, Night Mode on all cameras, and Deep Fusion.
The Night Mode icon pops up automatically when a low-light scene presents itself, and it will take a pseudo-long-exposure shot, handheld, of course. You will see the seconds suggested next to the Night Mode icon, but if you tap on it, you can change the simulated long exposure or altogether disable it. Usually, it’s between 1 and 2 seconds, but sometimes the phone allows you to go for up to 30 seconds depending on the environmental light or its lack thereof. You can use this mode on the main, the ultrawide, and even the selfie snapper.
Deep Fusion is used when light conditions aren’t ideal, say, indoors. It triggers instead of Smart HDR and Night Mode. Deep Fusion uses four frames before you hit the shutter, four more once you do, and one long exposure shot. The Neural engine will select the best frames and create a high-quality HDR photo that is very detailed, sharp, and more natural-looking. The Neural processor’s machine learning process analyzes the image being taken and processes them differently depending on what’s in the frame – say, sky, foliage, or skin tones. Meanwhile, structure and color tones are based on ratios obtained by the Neural unit on the A15 CPU.
As usual, all cameras talk to each other, so they already know the correct exposure and tone mapping settings when you switch between them. This applies to both stills and videos.
The camera interface is mostly unchanged. You swipe between modes and have a couple of settings you can uncover with an upward swipe – flash, night mode, live photo, photo aspect, exposure compensation, and filters. In video mode, you can change the resolution and frame rate from the viewfinder.
Camera app • Ultrawide • Night Mode • Photographic styles
Portrait mode is available on the main and the selfie cameras. There is no RAW mode on the iPhone 13.
There is a new feature called Photographic Styles which automatically edits a photo, one element at a time (applying different corrections to the subject and background, for example). You can choose between Standard, Rich Contrast, Vibrant, Warm, and Cool. You can tune each of these modes by your liking, and set your preferred one as default. It’s like filters, but more permanent.
The new hardware and software on the iPhone 13 generation enabled another interesting camera features – Cinematic Mode. It does automatic rack focus, but the phone records a depth map alongside the video, so you can change the focus point manually after the fact. Editing such videos is possible in iMovie and Clips apps.
Cinematic mode
Photo quality
The 12MP photos from the main camera are rich in detail, with great contrast and incredibly low noise levels. The dynamic range is okay, not the best we’ve seen, but we can describe it as balanced and natural instead of over-the-top.
The white balance is exceptional, and the colors are as true to life as possible. Some of the less-colorful samples may seem, well, a bit anemic, but we’ve looked, and these were the real colors. If you are not keen on Apple’s way of using painfully accurate colors, you can always opt for one of the Photographic styles and set the tone and hues for every photo that comes next.
One thing we are not fans of is the foliage presentation. Sometimes the grass is good and leaves look fine, other times – they are awfully smeared. With this new and even bigger sensor, we sure expected richer intricate detail, but we got the same as last year and the year before that. It seems Apple’s skills are not particularly good in this area.
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Main camera, 12MP
The 12MP ultrawide photos are some of the widest we’ve shot so far and look great on the screen and when shared on social networks. The resolved detail is alright, the contrast is great, and the colors – accurate.
The dynamic range is identical to the main camera’s – balanced and not that wide.
The foliage here looks even worse due to the smaller pixels and less detail to work with – the grass and trees are looking like oil-painting at times.
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Ultrawide camera, 12MP
The main camera can do portraits, and it can do them very well. The subjects are outstanding – sharp and detailed, colorful, noise-free, while the photo has nicely balanced exposure. The background blur is enjoyable.
The subject separation is proficient, though there are times where some objects from the background may get in the way of their accuracy.
Still, the AI behind this portrait mode and the depth map is very capable, and we know many users will be using it and showing off their cool photos.
Night Mode triggers automatically when the light is low. You can opt-out of using it or correct the suggested exposure time, but we strongly suggest leaving it to do its job as it sees fit. The mode usually opts for 1s or 2s exposure times, and the photo is saved instantly, making it among the fastest Night Modes on the market.
The Night Mode-enhanced photos are brilliant – they are incredibly detailed, with excellent color saturation, great contrast, commendable exposure, and good dynamic range. The noise reduction is proficient and cleans the photos very well without taking much detail in the process.
These photos look well balanced – they are not too bright and were kept as natural-looking as possible.
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Main cam Auto Night Mode, 12MP
If you opt-out of the Night Mode, you’ll get a little bit softer photos with somewhat washed-out colors, but they are still detailed, with good contrast and dynamic range. And exposure is pretty good, too, for a non-Night Mode image. In fact, this is just how the scenes look to our eyes, so kudos for the life-like look.
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Main cam NM off, 12MP
Just like on the iPhone 12, the iPhone 13 shoots acceptable ultrawide photos by always using the Night Mode (usually 2-3s). The images offer balanced exposure and good-looking color saturation; the contrast is good, too.
The photos are quite soft and noisy, but plenty usable for looking at the phone’s screen or sharing them across various social networks.
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Ultrawide cam NM Auto, 12MP
We do not recommend disabling the Night Mode on the ultrawide camera. The images taken without it are rather poor – they are dark, most of the detail is smeared, they are overrun with noise, and the colors are often desaturated.
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Ultrawide cam NM off, 12MP
And here are photos of our usual posters taken with the Apple iPhone 13. Here’s how it stacks up against the competition. Feel free to browse around and pit it against other phones from our extensive database.
Selfies
Apple has been offering two Field-of-View modes on the selfie camera for a few generations already – the slightly zoomed-in 7MP crop, which is equivalent to a 30mm field of view, and the full 12MP mode, which has a 23mm equivalent FoV.
If you hold the iPhone in portrait orientation, selfies are cropped to 7MP to provide a tighter framing, but if you rotate the phone horizontally, you will get more of the scene with the camera app automatically switching to the wider 12MP mode. You can also switch between those two modes manually – there is a switch shortcut on the viewfinder.
The 12MP photos from the front camera are outstanding and one, if not the best, selfies we’ve seen to date. The resolved detail is spectacular, the contrast and the dynamic range are praise-worthy, and the colors are impressively accurate. The noise is low and handled very well even when shooting indoors – something few selfie cameras can do.
Indeed, these are some of the best selfies we’ve taken in quite a while.
You can shoot portraits with the front camera as the SL 3D snapper is assisting with a depth map. That’s why the subject separation is astounding, and the background blur is thoroughly impressive. Just like the regular selfies, the portrait ones excel in everything – detail and sharpness, colors, contrast, balanced dynamic range.
By the way, the portraits are shot in 7MP, meaning the camera crops a part of its available FoV and shows a zoomed-in shot.
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Portrait selfies, 12MP
Shootout with the iPhone 12
We couldn’t miss the opportunity to pit the new iPhone against the old one, and the photos are in.
It’s hardly a surprise that the primary cameras of the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 shoot identical photos. Even if there is a new sensor with a different type of stabilization on the iPhone 13, it is impossible to tell apart the photos from the two phones.
The iPhone 13 and iPhone 12 use the same 12MP camera with the same 14mm f/2.4 lens for ultrawide-angle photos. The processing hasn’t changed on the new iPhone 13, and that’s why we have another batch of identical photos.
We hope you didn’t expect to see differences in the processed Night Mode photos. Despite the new sensor on the iPhone 13, the photos we took at night using Auto Night Mode (the default setting) are indistinguishable.
We thought we’d see some minor differences on the photos shot without Night Mode, but that did not happen either. The unprocessed photos are equally good, with similar exposure, dynamic range, resolved detail and noise control.
And since the ultrawide cameras are identical in both hardware and software, we saw no point of showing you yet another batch of the same photos.
Conclusion:Â Apple iPhone 13 offers the same photo quality as the iPhone 12, pixel to pixel.
Video quality
The iPhone 13 captures videos up to 4K at 60fps with all three cameras, and it can even do it simultaneously if you have the right app.
All videos are digitally (also optically where available) stabilized – Apple calls this cinematic video stabilization. All modes, including the 4K@60fps as well, feature expanded dynamic range thanks to the Smart HDR. The slow-mo options max out at 1080p at 240fps.
You can also capture HDR videos straight into the Dolby Vision format with up to 4K at 60fps (the iPhone 12 was limited to 30fps). You can edit these videos on the go on your phone, you can upload them on YouTube or any other popular platform, or even send them to your friends. The Dolby Vision information is saved outside of the video stream, so the video will look normal to any non-HDR player/screen and will be color-boosted on any Dolby Vision-compatible player and display.
You also have a choice between H.265 HEVC and H.264 video encoders. The High Efficiency mode uses H.265 and is mandatory for 4K@60fps and HDR footage, while the More Compatible mode (H.264) provides easier playback across different devices.
The iPhone 13, just like the previous iPhones, captures wide stereo audio for the videos at about 192kbps. This is spatial sound, and it’s richer and deeper compared to just regular stereo.
The 4K video quality from the main camera is spectacular. The detail is excellent, the picture is with natural sharpness, the dynamic range is exceptional, the contrast is great, the color presentation is with perfect accuracy. These 4K videos have to be among the best we’ve seen, with excellent footage and sound. The stabilization works amazing, too!
The 4K videos from the ultrawide camera are equally brilliant. They excel in everything and have to be one of the most detailed ones we’ve seen, as far as ultrawide cameras go.
We also shot low-light clips on the iPhone 13. The one from the main camera is great – it has enough detail, lovely color saturation, great contrast and stays true to life. The dynamic range isn’t bad, too, given we shot quite late at night. The noise reduction is a bit aggressive and takes some fine detail with it, but this is a minor issue, really.
The video from the ultrawide camera is more than usable. It is darker as this camera has an f/2.4 lens, but if for some reason you decide on using the UW camera at night, it will capture a decent video with good detail and acceptable noise and colors. We’d say we’ve seen a lot worse, and the best description for this clip is that it is the least bad video we’ve captured on a UW camera for quite a while.
We’ve also shot some footage with the most notable new camera feature – the Cinematic mode. It simulates rack focus automatically and is shot in 1080p resolution with 30fps. This mode is available on the main and selfie cameras. But how this works?
Well, this is an advanced Portrait mode with blur simulation for everything that should be out of focus. It works exactly like portrait mode – the depth map is created in real time and an algorithm automatically decides which subject should be on focus. The automatic blur works side by side with the autofocus and the overall results are, well, let’s say good.
The videos are with very good quality and if you know what you are doing and doesn’t mind some post processing, you can make pretty awesome clips.
The depth map is captured outside the clip, and you can easily edit these clips in iMovie or Clips. You can change the aperture, the subject that gets the focus, and more. So, if the Auto mode doesn’t get it right, nothing is lost – since it’s all done by software, you can fix everything later.
Finally, here is the Apple iPhone 13 in our video comparison database.
6. Alternatives, our verdict, pros and cons
Alternatives
The Apple iPhone 13 is obviously a very minor upgrade over the iPhone 12, and we cannot think of a single reason why any iPhone 12 user should jump on it.
But the iPhone 13 is also one of the best current smartphones on the market for its beautiful design, increased durability, powerful hardware, superb speakers, and excellent camera experience day and night. And for such a compact device, the battery life turned out pretty good, too.
Of course, there are plenty of offers on the market, and the competition within Apple’s own series is already tough enough. Let’s say you are using an older model iPhone, should you get this €900 iPhone 13 or another iPhone?
Well, the iPhone 12 is now at least €100-150 cheaper than the iPhone 13, while carriers are pushing even bigger promotions as they are getting ready to replace the older model with the new one. And it’s pretty much the same device with a slightly bigger notch and a missing Cinematic video mode. We can’t blame anyone that would skip these features and get the iPhone 12 at a large discount instead.
The iPhone 11 is also still on sale, and it’s now cheaper at about €500-€550. It is one particularly powerful smartphone that’s great for gaming, plus it is also a dual-glass IP68-rated device. It has a 6.1″ LCD screen and a familiar 12MP dual-camera, supports Face ID, and its 12MP selfie shooter is really good, too. Not to mention that battery life is great, too.
You can, of course, get the €800 iPhone 13 mini if you want the most compact yet most powerful iPhone, which is identical to the iPhone 13, but smaller. Or, if you want to get the best compact iPhone right now, the €1150 iPhone 13 Pro will offer you a 120Hz display, more powerful graphics and much better ultrawide and telephoto cameras. It is a significant update over the iPhone 12 Pro and will surely get the most attention. We guess most people will get it for the versatile photography skills with the added autofocus on the ultrawide and its 3x zoom lens, so you should consider it, too.
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Apple iPhone 12 • Apple iPhone 11 • Apple iPhone 13 Pro
And if you are into Android phones of similar size and capabilities like the iPhone 13, you may want to explore the Samsung Galaxy S21 5G, or the Asus Zenfone 8, or maybe the Realme GT 5G. These are all not-so-large phones with 120Hz OLEDs, powerful processors, and great cameras, plus they are all cheaper! The Realme GT is not water-resistant, but it’s quite affordable, so it’s worth mentioning.
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Samsung Galaxy S21 5G • Asus Zenfone 8 • Realme GT 5G
Our verdict
The Apple iPhone 13 is a very capable smartphone – it has one of the fastest chipsets and one of the best camera kits – that’s why it is ideal for photography and video capturing on the go, great for bloggers and vloggers on a budget. It also does a brilliant job at streaming your favorite shows and playing demanding games. Its speakers are surprisingly nice, too.
The iPhone 13 is a premium-looking smartphone with great all-around protection. But it’s not just the good looks; it’s also built to last with that Ceramic Shield and sapphire covers for the lenses.
There is also another thing that seems to be an iPhone-exclusive – the promised 5 years of major updates. That’s a whole lot more than any Android device can offer, but also understandable since Apple makes a limited number of phones and has full control over every aspect of them.
The iPhone 13 is not a perfect smartphone – the notch is still huge as Apple doesn’t want to resurrect the Touch ID yet, the 120Hz display is exclusive to the more expensive Pro model, and it just won’t allow for faster than 25W charging, though the last one could be somewhat responsible for the longer battery lifespan of the iPhones.
There are also controversial aspects that will never change – the aim towards a port-less phone, the minimalistic retail bundle that reduces electronic waste, the iOS-specific file manager, among other controversial Apple policies.
But there are two undeniable facts – no iPhone is a bad phone, on the contrary – every iPhone is designed to excel at a wide variety of tasks, and it does. And secondly, no review will make a decided Apple user to reconsider their iPhone purchase/upgrade because of that. So, go get your new iPhone and enjoy it, it is yet another good one, in case you needed to hear it from us.
Pros
- Outstanding design – sturdy and water-proofed.
- Bright OLED screen, HDR10, Dolby Vision.
- Dependable battery life.
- Loud stereo speakers, excellent output.
- Unmatched performance, 5G.
- Great all-round photo and video quality across all three cameras.
Cons
- Minor upgrade over iPhone 12.
- No 120Hz refresh rate.
- The notch is still an eyesore even if smaller.
- The fast charging isn’t very fast and the charger is not bundled.
- iOS (with its limitations) remains a love it or leave it affair.
128GB 4GB RAM | $ 699.99 | $ 799.99 |
256GB 4GB RAM | $ 879.95 | $ 899.99 |
512GB 4GB RAM | $ 1,099.99 | $ 1,129.00 |
Compare specs
NETWORK | Technology | GSM / CDMA / HSPA / EVDO / LTE / 5G |
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LAUNCH | Announced | 2021, September 14 | ||
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Status | Available. Released 2021, September 24 |
BODY | Dimensions | 146.7 x 71.5 x 7.7 mm (5.78 x 2.81 x 0.30 in) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Weight | 174 g (6.14 oz) | |||
Build | Glass front (Gorilla Glass), glass back (Gorilla Glass), aluminum frame | |||
SIM | Single SIM (Nano-SIM and/or eSIM) or Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) | |||
IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 6m for 30 mins) Apple Pay (Visa, MasterCard, AMEX certified) |
DISPLAY | Type | Super Retina XDR OLED, HDR10, Dolby Vision, 800 nits (HBM), 1200 nits (peak) | ||
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Size | 6.1 inches, 90.2 cm2Â (~86.0% screen-to-body ratio) | |||
Resolution | 1170 x 2532 pixels, 19.5:9 ratio (~460 ppi density) | |||
Protection | Scratch-resistant ceramic glass, oleophobic coating | |||
Wide color gamut True-tone |
PLATFORM | OS | iOS 15, upgradable to iOS 15.5 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Chipset | Apple A15 Bionic (5 nm) | |||
CPU | Hexa-core (2×3.23 GHz Avalanche + 4×1.82 GHz Blizzard) | |||
GPU | Apple GPU (4-core graphics) |
MEMORY | Card slot | No | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Internal | 128GB 4GB RAM, 256GB 4GB RAM, 512GB 4GB RAM | |||
NVMe |
MAIN CAMERA | Modules | 12 MP, f/1.6, 26mm (wide), 1.7µm, dual pixel PDAF, sensor-shift OIS 12 MP, f/2.4, 120˚, 13mm (ultrawide) |
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Features | Dual-LED dual-tone flash, HDR (photo/panorama) | |||
Video | 4K@24/30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps, HDR, Dolby Vision HDR (up to 60fps), stereo sound rec. |
SELFIE CAMERA | Modules | 12 MP, f/2.2, 23mm (wide), 1/3.6″ SL 3D, (depth/biometrics sensor) |
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Features | HDR | |||
Video | 4K@24/25/30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, gyro-EIS |
SOUND | Loudspeaker | Yes, with stereo speakers | ||
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3.5mm jack | No |
COMMS | WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual-band, hotspot | ||
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Bluetooth | 5.0, A2DP, LE | |||
GPS | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS, QZSS | |||
NFC | Yes | |||
Infrared port | No | |||
Radio | No | |||
USB | Lightning, USB 2.0 |
FEATURES | Sensors | Face ID, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer | ||
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Ultra Wideband (UWB) support |
BATTERY | Type | Li-Ion 3240 mAh, non-removable (12.41 Wh) | ||
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Charging | Fast charging (23W, unofficial rating), 50% in 30 min (advertised) USB Power Delivery 2.0 MagSafe wireless charging 15W Qi magnetic fast wireless charging 7.5W |
|||
Stand-by | ||||
Talk time |
MISC | |||
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Colors | Starlight, Midnight, Blue, Pink, Red, Green | ||
SAR | 1.18 W/kg (head) Â Â 1.19 W/kg (body) Â Â | ||
SAR EU | 0.99 W/kg (head) Â Â 0.98 W/kg (body) Â Â | ||
Models | A2633, A2482, A2631, A2634, A2635, iphone14,5 | ||
Price | $ 699.99 / € 834.99 / £ 656.10 / ₹ 74,900 / Rp 16,614,000 |
TESTS | Performance | AnTuTu: 775519 (v9) GeekBench: 4645 (v5.1) GFXBench: 59fps (ES 3.1 onscreen) |
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Display | Contrast ratio: Infinite (nominal) | |||
Loudspeaker | -25.5 LUFS (Very good) | |||
Battery life | 89h endurance rating |
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iPhone 13, On Youtube
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