The Apple iPhone 13 is a flagship smartphone and was released in September 2021. It comes with various improvements and features over its predecessor, the iPhone 12. Here are some key details about the iPhone 13:
Design: The iPhone 13 retains the flat-edge design introduced with the iPhone 12, featuring a Ceramic Shield front cover and aerospace-grade aluminium or stainless steel frame.
Display: The iPhone 13 sports a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display with a resolution of 2532 x 1170 pixels. It features a brighter Super Retina XDR display with up to 800 nits of brightness and HDR support for vibrant colours.
Performance: Powered by the A15 Bionic chip with a 6-core CPU, 4-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine, offering improved performance and energy efficiency.
Provides a smooth and responsive user experience.
Camera System: The iPhone 13 features a dual-camera system with a 12MP wide lens and a 12MP ultra-wide lens. Improved low-light performance with larger sensors and sensor-shift optical image stabilization. Cinematic mode for video recording, allowing for selective focus and automatic focus changes during recording.
Battery Life: The Apple iPhone 13 offers improved battery life compared to its predecessors, providing longer usage on a single charge. Adaptive refresh rate technology helps optimize battery efficiency.
5G Connectivity: The iPhone 13 supports 5G connectivity for faster download and upload speeds in areas with 5G coverage.
MagSafe Technology: Supports MagSafe technology for easy attachment of MagSafe accessories, including chargers and cases.
Face ID: Uses Face ID for secure facial recognition, ensuring a convenient and secure unlocking experience.
The iPhone 13 is positioned as a well-rounded flagship device with improvements in camera technology, performance, and battery life. It caters to users who want a powerful and reliable smartphone with the latest features and capabilities. The iPhone 13 doesn't boast a huge number of new features, but it is an improvement over the iPhone 12 in the areas that really matter - the battery, display and camera. You can see how it compares to its predecessor here;
The iPhone 13 isn’t a game changer for Apple’s series of smartphones, but it’s an important iteration that offers better battery life, a better processor and an upgraded camera setup than iPhones that have gone before it. If you’re looking for a fast and capable smartphone, and don’t need the extra features of the pricier Pro model, this is a top choice.
Tom's Guide Verdict
The iPhone 13’s brighter display, longer battery life and powerful cameras make it the best iPhone for those on a budget. We wish it had faster charging and the iPhone 13 Pro’s adaptive 120Hz display, but you're not missing that much versus the iPhone 14.
The Apple iPhone 13 is a decent upgrade over the iPhone 12, but nothing more than that. The improvements are generally small and incremental, and even the addition of sensor-shift stabilisation and Cinematic Mode aren’t that exciting in reality.
That doesn’t make the iPhone 13 a bad phone; far from it. It’s an improvement over the iPhone 12 in many areas – and that’s saying something, as the 12 was, for me, the pick of the iPhones last year for value.
This year, however, I’d recommend spending a bit more on the iPhone 13 Pro instead: it has all the tech of the iPhone 13 Pro Max in a more compact, more affordable package, not to mention a better set of cameras and superior battery life to the iPhone 13. No two ways about it, for £120 more the iPhone 13 Pro snatches the value crown in 2021.
The iPhone 13 is a refinement, not a revolution. Compared side by side with the iPhone 12, it's not going to shock you with anything other than stellar battery life. That said, the additional juice is absolutely worth the $100 premium over the still-on-sale iPhone 12 or the iPhone 13 mini, making the standard iPhone 13 our Editors' Choice winner. It's about having less stress, and in 2021, nobody needs more stress. The iPhone 13 Pro Max, meanwhile, should be the choice for professional and wannabe-pro content creators who rely on iPhones to add beauty and entertainment to the world. Its additional zoom lens, big screen for viewing and editing content, and nearly immortal battery life makes it a true "pro" content creation studio. So this year, go big. You won't regret it.
Should you buy it?
Yes. If you like the price, size, and extra battery life, the iPhone 13 offers plenty of value, even if it isn’t the most premium option in the lineup.
This phone, boasting double the storage of my old MacBook, goes beyond my expectations. Unlike its predecessor, it can handle administrative tasks during quiet moments at work, like job applications. While I'm not attempting to delve into a technical explanation of phones, I felt the need to justify the expense since I don't upgrade my tech frequently. In the past month alone, this phone has proven its worth. The camera surpasses my old one and, though not as advanced as the latest iPhone, it does the job. I couldn't rationalize spending an extra 300 quid for a camera, especially when it wouldn't fully meet my landscape photography needs - you still can't replicate the performance of an SLR within an iPhone. The physical limitations persist, causing that familiar oversized foreground emphasis seen in most smartphone pictures. Nonetheless, for reference photos, portraits with friends, and everyday snaps, this camera does the trick. I'll stick to my SLR for landscapes and consider an upgrade later.
The joy of a new phone lies in the ability to store all the music I couldn't fit on my old one, perform complex functions beyond the capabilities of a less powerful phone, and indulge in all my interests and needs in one place without worrying about space. This is precisely why I prioritized a phone upgrade over a MacBook upgrade. If you're faced with the choice of which one to upgrade, I'd recommend the phone, as you can always use cables to connect it to a projector or TV screen, particularly useful for students or those looking to cut costs. My unlimited data plan allows me to watch a surprising amount of content, with the only risk being a potential internet addiction. I've discovered a useful app called Metronaut, especially handy for musicians. It's a relief to pursue my passions without concerns about freezes or collapses.
Any issues I've encountered typically require a simple switch-off/switch-on, often due to prolonged activity on my phone or neglecting to close pages. The low-light picture-taking impresses me, enabling instant updates to Instagram even in challenging lighting conditions. This translates to a better-documented, moment-to-moment sense of the world, preventing memories from being lost in storage collapse and frustration.
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