Apple unveiled their new flagship iphones, the Iphone 13 series at their highly anticipated September event. To be honest, it was a pretty small update, but knowing Apple, their events and announcements are very grandiose. They released the lineup which consists of the Iphone 13, Iphone 13 mini, Iphone 13 pro and Iphone 13 Pro Max. The new iphone 13 series look quite a lot like the Iphone 12 series, although it came with two main updates; the cameras and the display.
For the display, the new iphones have been equipped with brighter screens for better visibility, especially when being used outdoors, and better HDR. 1000 NIts for the iphone 13 and 1,200 nits for the Iphone 13 pro, making it 28% brighter. This new line of Iphone 13s have smaller notches compared to their predecessors which makes it 20% smaller. Contained in the notch however is all the same face ID software and same selfie camera, but a bit more compressed to make it all fit in the new notch size.
The 13 pro and 13 Pro max are equipped with 120Hz displays, it has a variable refresh rate from 10 Hz to 120Hz, that is what differentiates the 13 pro and 13 pro max, although most non tech savvy users might not really notice the difference.
The battery life has also been upgraded from One and Half to 2 and half hours depending on usage, even though the phones have been equipped with better displays which could potentially cause the batteries to drain faster, but Apple is confident that the new batteries will fair better.
The cameras of the new 13 series have a slightly new layout, with the dual cameras diagonal from each other and the camera bumps are slighter larger especially with the Pro phones compared to the 12 series. The Iphone 13 and 13 Mini have 2 new dual cameras also, both still 12 Megapixels ultrawide, both with larger sensors, larger apertures and sensor shift optical image stabilization on the main sensor. This will enable a bigger sensor plus better stabilization to give a much better low light
The 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max both have matching cameras that are much better than the one equipped on the Iphone 13. Consisting of triple cameras, 12 Megapixels and wider apertures for a shallower natural depth of field and better light gathering. The previous Iphone 12 series had a 2.5X telephoto lens that have been upgraded to 3X on the iphone 13s an dall the cameras have night mode now. With new hardware, image signal processor, it should create better photos and videos with the new ultrawide feature being able to now shoot micro photos
One of the most exciting new features are one of the features they announced which is the video mode. Two new video features they added are the cinamatic mode and ProRes video. The cinematic has a bunch of cool features which includes focus tools to help video shooters get better control focus on the videos they are recording. There is smooth focus racking and an AI based depth detection that allows you adjust the level of blur and focus racks between objects in the video in a way that creates a smooth effect when moving the blur.
That’s basically the major updates on the Iphone 13 this year, with the screen, cameras and new specs. The new A15 bionic chip has been equipped in all the phones with a 5 core GPU in the Pro phones and 4 core in the regular ones and also a slightly bigger battery bump with bigger physical batteries. The new iphones are tiny bit thicker and little heavier than the predecessors, although with the same ceramic shield, same IP68 and same flat side materials from last year
PRICING
$699 for the iphone 13 mini
$799 for the iphone 13 Pro
$999 for the iphone 13 Pro
$1,099 for the iphone 13 Pro Max
$1,599 for the fully maxed out 1 Terabyte of storage on the Iphone 13 Pro Max
VERDICT
Although it is a bunch of small upgrades overall, we are pretty confident that you don’t need to run out and get an iphone 13 especially if you have an Iphone 12. Although the new 120Hz display on the Pro phones might be a huge deal to you, and that might even be a good reason for people with older iphones up to the iphone 11 to think about getting the Pro phones as Apple made it a deliberate distinction to make people want to upgrade to the Pro phones. If you are someone who values the extra battery life and the new display equipped on the iphone 13 series, then this is for you, but if not, you might want to stick to the Ipone 11s or Iphone 12s.