Apple Introducing on September 14th of Sep 2021, the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini are Apple's newest flagship iPhones on the more affordable end, and are being sold alongside the more expensive iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max.
During a virtual event on September 14th Tuesday in 2021, Apple announced the follow-up to last year's iPhone 12 with four new models: the iPhone 13, 13 Mini, 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max. The new phones run iOS 15, come with a larger battery, more storage, a new A15 Bionic processor, a smaller notch and an abundance of new camera features. The iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini are ideal for those who don't need pro-level camera features.
The base model of the iPhone 13 and 13 Mini are available in five colors: pink, blue, midnight (black), starlight (white) and Product Red. And the iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max get a giant camera upgrade as well as a new display with 120Hz high refresh-rate display.
iPhone 13 Top New Features
- The new iPhone 13 features a smaller notch that's 20% smaller than iPhone 12.
- The design features a new diagonal camera layout, and the cameras capture 40% more light. The ultra-wide camera lets in more light, too.
- The displays on the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro are 28% brighter, with 800 nits of brightness.
- The iPhone 13 and offers cinematic video (portrait mode), which delivers movie-like video recording that changes the focus on the fly to various subjects.
- 5G connectivity should get better with support for more bands.
- The iPhone 13 mini promises 1.5 hours of more battery life, and that goes up to 2.5 hours for the iPhone 13.
- There's a new ProMotion display on the iPhone 13 Pro series that scales from 10Hz to 120Hz, and it's designed to respond dynamically.
- There's a new telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, a new 6-element ultra-wide lens that lets in more light, and a wide camera with a 2.2x improvement in low light.
- The iPhone 13 Pro is capable of macro photography with extreme close-ups, and all of the cameras now support Night mode.
- A new TrueDepth camera system is 20 percent smaller for a shrunken notch, and there's a textured matte glass on the back.
- The iPhone 13 Pro comes with a bigger battery so you should expect longer endurance. The Pro is rated for 1.5 hours longer and the Pro Max 2.5 hours longer.
- A15 Bionic chip promises the most powerful graphics ever with 50% better performance than competing phones (rated).
- A new Super Retina XDR display supports up to 1,000 nits for better outdoor brightness.
Apple has also committed to more environmentally friendly materials for the iPhone 13. That includes reduced plastic usage in packaging and antennas that use 100% recycled plastic.
The iPhone 13 series will be available in three screen size options, just like last year. The iPhone 13 mini keeps the same 5.4-inch display, while the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro both come in at 6.1 inches. The iPhone 13 Pro Max has a 6.7-inch display like the iPhone 12 Pro Max.
All four phones come with Super Retina XDR OLED technology. Apple says that the non-Pro models can max out at 800 nits of brightness, while the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max can crank up to 1000 nits outdoors. Apple also says that the latest screen technology is more efficient.
As rumors suggested, the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max come equipped with ProMotion displays. This means that the two phones can clock their screens all the way up to 120Hz or down to 10Hz. This range will help the content you’re viewing feel more responsive, as iOS will adapt the refresh rate to whatever you’re doing.
Apple is also working with developers to maximize their apps and games for 120Hz apps.
iPhone 13 Specifications
An upgraded A15 Bionic Chip powers the new iPhones. It features a 6-core CPU with 2 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores, a 4-core GPU (one less GPU core than the Pro models), and a 16-core Neural Engine.
iPhone 13 has powerful machine learning applications such as iOS 15’s new Live Text feature and Siri’s on-device speech recognition.
For the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini, the quad-core GPU is perfect for graphically-intensive gaming and photography uses. In fact, Apple claims the GPU is 30% faster than the best you’ll find on an Android phone.
The iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max get an even bigger GPU upgrade with five cores. Apple says that the Pro models feature the most powerful mobile GPU ever, with it being supposedly 50% faster than the competition. Combined with the new photography and cinematography capabilities, this could be a huge boost to creative productivity.
iPhone 13 Battery life and Charging
For the iPhone 13 mini, Apple said the phone will last one and a half hours longer than the iPhone 12 mini. The iPhone 13 will apparently last two and a half hours longer than the iPhone 12. The iPhone 13 Pro will see one and a half hours more runtime than the iPhone 12 Pro, while the iPhone 13 Pro Max could see up to two and a half hours longer than its predecessor. Apple notes that the iPhone 13 Pro Max is the longest-lasting iPhone ever.
iPhone 13 Memory & Storage
The standard iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini will also come in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB options. The iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max models will reportedly be offered in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB options.
First time, you have the option to get 1TB of storage on an iPhone. The extra storage is only available on the Pro models.
iPhone 13 Network & Connectivity
5G connectivity is included for better quality video streaming, higher-definition FaceTime calls, and improved gaming, but the super fast mmWave speeds are again limited to major cities in the United States. Slower sub-6GHz 5G speeds are available in more rural areas in the U.S. and in other countries, and there's support for more 5G bands for 5G connectivity in more places.
Apple's iPhone 13 and 13 mini can be unlocked with the Face ID facial recognition system, which works with the 12-megapixel front-facing camera that supports Smart HDR 4, Deep Fusion, Night Mode, Cinematic Mode, Night Mode Selfies, and more.
The iPhone 13 and 13 mini support WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0, plus they include a U1 Ultra Wideband chip for spatial awareness
Gigabit LTE is supported when 5G isn't available, and to preserve battery life when using 5G, a Smart Data Mode reverts to an LTE connection when 5G speeds aren't necessary. The new iPhone 13 models offer dual eSIM support and don't come with a physical SIM by default, but there's still a nano-SIM slot.
iPhone 13 Price
The iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max will be available to pre-order on Friday, September 17 in the U.S. and U.K.
The iPhone 13 mini starts at $699, and the starting storage is 128GB, up from 64GB on the iPhone 12. The iPhone 13 price is $799. In the U.K. the iPhone 13 mini starts at £679 and the standard iPhone 13 starts at £779.
As you move up to the Pro models, the iPhone 13 Pro starts at $999 and the iPhone 13 Pro Max costs $1,099. Note that there is a 1TB storage option for the first time on the Pro line. In the U.K. the iPhone 13 Pro starts at £949, while the iPhone 13 Pro Max starts at £1,049.
Future of iPhones
The iPhone 13 models will be succeeded by the iPhone 14, and we're already hearing rumors about the 2022 devices. Apple is expected to do away with the notch for at least some models, adopting a hole-punch front-facing camera and under-display Face ID.
The iPhone 14 models could also feature a new design that does away with the camera bump, instead introducing a flush camera design for the first time in many years.
