I’m far from the first to say this, but on its surface, the iPhone 13 and 13 Mini definitely feel like “S” years. Apple has taken last year’s iPhone 12 and refined it a bit.
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But if you dig a little deeper, your opinion on the significance of this year’s changes might change. While last year’s changes were mostly design-related, this year’s changes have a significant impact on everyday life. To me, that’s what matters.
The improvements are also significant. The iPhone 13 offers longer battery life that should last most users a full day. And the camera improvements confirm that the iPhone 13 offers a better camera than any of its competitors.
The iPhone 13 doesn’t reach the heights of the iPhone 13 Pro, however. Does it really matter? I used the phone to find out.
Design of the iPhone 13
The overall look of the iPhone 13 is pretty similar to last year’s iPhone 12. You’ll get the same square edges and the same Lightning port on the bottom. The device is slightly thicker and heavier, but you won’t really notice it.
iPhone 13
Pros
Major update to the iPhone 12
Better battery performance
Great cameras
Cons
Similar design to iPhone 12
No ProMotion screen on non-pro models
That the design is so similar is not a bad thing. The iPhone 13 looks great. It has a nice shiny glass back, with a matte frame around the edges, and it comes in a variety of brilliant colors. We looked at the blue model, which is like last year’s blue and looks great.
There are a few design changes, but they don’t really affect everyday life. The camera sensors are larger, so Apple had to rearrange the camera module a bit - so the cameras are now aligned diagonally instead of vertically. The cameras also protrude a bit more from the back of the phone.
Perhaps more important is the fact that the notch is a little smaller. You’ll notice it if you look really hard, but it has almost no impact on everyday life. Hopefully, Apple will erase the notch soon enough.
The iPhone 13 feels great in the hand, although this may vary depending on the size of your hands. I have relatively large hands and have no problem reaching the opposite side of the device when typing, though I normally slide the screen around with one hand. People with smaller hands might consider the smaller iPhone 13 Mini.
iPhone 13 screen
The iPhone 13 Pro received a major screen upgrade with the addition of ProMotion. Unfortunately, the standard iPhone 13 does not use this technology. The screen on the iPhone 13 and 13 Mini is like last year’s.
However, this does not mean that the screen is of inferior quality. The iPhone 13’s screen is still beautiful. For the iPhone 12, Apple finally adopted OLED technology for its non-pro devices, and that’s the case again this time. This means deeper black levels and higher contrast, not to mention better power efficiency.
The 6.1-inch size is certainly big enough for most people, though I’m excited about rumors that Apple may drop the Mini next year in favor of an “iPhone 14 Max.”
The screen is more than bright enough for most people. It reaches a maximum brightness of 1200 nits, with a typical brightness of 800 nits. That’s up from just over 600 nits on the iPhone 12, and it’s easy to see the iPhone 13’s screen, even in bright sunlight, which is very helpful.
Still, as someone who uses the iPhone 13 Pro along with the iPhone 13, I can’t wait for Apple to bring ProMotion to its lower-end iPhones. Many Android phones in this price range already have fast refresh rates, though admittedly they rarely have the same variable refresh rate displays as the iPhone 13 Pros.
iPhone 13 performance
All four iPhone 13s offer Apple’s new A15 Bionic chip, and they’re the best performing iPhones to date. In everyday use, they are about as responsive as the iPhone 12s.
That’s a good thing. Apple seems to be way ahead of the competition for iPhone performance, and the result is that iPhones don’t feel sluggish until years after their release. Games load quickly, multitasking is easy, and I’ve never seen an app crash.
Overall, the A15 Bionic chip doesn’t offer vast improvements over the A14 Bionic chip, but Apple doesn’t need to do much to continue to boast top-notch performance. The A15 Bionic features a 16-core neural engine for AI, compared to the A14 Bionic’s 8 cores.
The benchmark results confirm the excellent performance. Here are the results we got with the iPhone 13.
Geek bench 5 CPU: 1690 single-core, 4455 multi-core
3DMark Wild Life: 8699
These results are excellent, and beat all the Android phones we tested. They also beat all other iPhones, although the improvements over the iPhone 12, which scored 1591 on the Geek bench 5 single-core score, are modest.
The iPhone 13 also gets an increase in storage capacity. The base model iPhone now has 128GB of storage, up from 64GB. This is good news for those who store a lot of apps and files on their device.
iPhone 13 battery and charging
One of the enormous improvements in the iPhone 13 comes as longer battery life. According to Apple, the device’s battery should last 1.5 hours longer in average use, compared to the iPhone 12. That sounds about right, but could actually end up being on the low side - most people should see a serious improvement in battery life.
In our use, we found that the iPhone 13 could easily last a full day, even with relatively heavy use, with room to spare at the end. We think most people should get the same results.
The device offers similar charging technology as the iPhone 12. You’ll get support for Qi wireless charging, along with MagSafe support. The device also supports fast charging up to 20W with Apple’s charger, and while that doesn’t come close to the speeds of some Android phones, it should be fast enough for most.
iPhone 13 camera
The camera is perhaps the most important improvement of the iPhone 13. The iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini have the same camera system, which comprises a 12-megapixel main camera with an f/1.6 aperture, and a 12-megapixel ultraWide camera with an f/2.4 aperture. There’s no telephoto lens here - for that, you’ll have to get an iPhone 13 Pro.
The biggest improvements come from the main camera sensor, which got the same sensor-swapping technology previously available only on the iPhone 12 Pro Max. This is good news: last year, the iPhone 12 Pro Max’s camera was exceptionally good. Now, you can get the same quality no matter which iPhone 13 you buy.
In normal use, the camera delivers sharp, detailed images with vibrant colors. You’ll get excellent images in well-lit environments and when shooting at night, and the camera is able to easily focus on the subject in a fraction of a second.
The ultraWide camera has also received some improvements. Notably, the ultraWide camera can capture better images in low light, although the differences aren’t huge. I still recommend avoiding the ultraWide camera for low-light scenarios.
For iOS 15, Apple has added new “Photo Styles,” which essentially allows you to change the look of default images. The system actually uses artificial intelligence to change the way the phone processes images - so it’s not exactly a filter. So it’s not exactly a filter. It also means that you can’t change the style after you take the photo, but you can change the style for future photos whenever you want.
The system works pretty well and makes the iPhone camera more versatile than ever. Companies like Google and Samsung have long had their own “look” on their smartphone cameras. Now your iPhone can recreate those looks. That said, for my personal use, I’ve stuck with the default setting. I like the look on the iPhones camera.
The front-facing camera is also very nice. It is unchanged from last year, although it could benefit from better image processing and HDR.
The iPhone was already the best in the video department, but it got even better this year. Thanks to the sensor shift technology, the stabilization technology has also improved.
Of course, the flagship video feature is the new Cinematic mode, which lets you quickly and easily change the camera’s focus while you’re shooting - and change it right after you take the video. It’s fun, but it doesn’t work very well in low light, and even well-lit videos still aren’t perfect. It reminds me a bit of the early days of Portrait mode. Portrait mode is great, but it struggled at first. I suspect Cinematic mode will be much better in a few years. Hopefully, you’ll be able to use it at higher resolutions as well - right now it’s limited to 1080p at 30 frames per second. And hopefully, it will be better at shooting non-human subjects.
The cinematic mode and photographic styles may or may not appeal to you. But whether you use them, the iPhone 13 has an incredible camera system. The photos and videos are simply superb.
iPhone 13 software
The iPhone 13 comes with Apple’s latest and greatest mobile operating system, iOS 15. iOS 15 adds several new features to the iPhone that make it more versatile than ever, and builds on what users already love about iOS. Some of the flagship features include focus modes, which sync between your devices, but many of the bigger features Apple announced at WDDC aren’t available at launch. They should be in future versions of iOS.
Conclusions
The iPhone 13 is a more important update to the series than the iPhone 12 was. The iPhone 12 represented a major design update, and I’m glad it stuck around. But the iPhone 13 offers improvements where it really counts - the battery, and the camera.
That’s not really enough to justify buying an iPhone 13 if you have an iPhone 12. But if you have an iPhone 11 or older, you may well want to buy an iPhone 13 - and you’ll notice the difference.
The competition
These days, it doesn’t make much sense to compare iPhones to Android devices. The iPhone 13’s biggest competition comes from Apple itself. If you have an iPhone 12, don’t bother with this year’s model. The improvements are there, but not enough to buy a brand new phone. If, however, you have an iPhone 11, and you can afford a new phone, consider the iPhone 12.
If you’re trying to decide between buying an iPhone 12 and an iPhone 13, we recommend going with the newer device. It’s not much more expensive, but the camera and battery are a little better and worth that extra money. To learn more, check out our full comparison.
Should I buy the iPhone 13?
Yes. The iPhone 13 is a great phone with a great camera, long battery life and a great iOS software experience.
Buy: Apple iPhone 13
