Apple launched the iPhone 13 series in September this year as the successor to the iPhone 12 series. The iPhone 13 has a better display with a smaller notch, better camera, improved battery life and more. I have been using the phone for 3 months now. Is it the best upgrade to the iPhone 12? Dive into our review to find out.
Box Contents
- Apple iPhone 13 512GB in Pink colour
- USB Type-C to Lightning cable
- SIM ejector tool
- Apple sticker and documents
Display, Hardware and Design
The iPhone 13 has the same 6.1-inch OLED Super Retina XDR display, with a resolution of 2340×1080 pixels and 476ppi. It has support for HDR and Dolby Vision. And the company says the display is 28% brighter at 800 nits. With a higher peak brightness than its predecessor at 1200 nits for HDR. I had no problems using the display outdoors and watching HDR content. It also has true tone adjustment and wide color. Since it has a taptic engine, you get haptic touch feedback.
The iPhone 13 doesn’t have the 120Hz high refresh rate option, so you’ll have to spend more and get the Pro model. If you need a high refresh rate screen. It has Ceramic Shield protection which was introduced in iPhone 12 Apple says. it has 4x better drop performance than normal protection”. thanks to a new high-temperature crystallization step. that grows nano-ceramic crystals within the glass matrix.
The main change in the iPhone 13 series. The smaller notch compared to its predecessor as Apple has integrated. the FaceID system’s flood illuminator and dot projector into one component. And by moving the earpiece cutout to the edge. It still has the same 12MP TrueDepth front camera with f/2.2 aperture.
There’s no change in button placement compared to the iPhone 13. So you’ll still get a ring/silent button next to the volume rocker. As you can see, the phone has an aluminum frame that offers a matte finish. So it doesn’t attract fingerprints easily. You can also see the antenna cutouts.
The power button is on the right and the Lightning port is at the bottom. With the speaker grill and microphone ports on either side. The phone has an IP68 water resistance (up to 30 minutes at 6 meters) rating.
Although the iPhone 13 has the same 6.1-inch screen as the iPhone 12. The dimensions are slightly different, So it’s thicker at 7.65mm compared to 7.4mm and also has a bigger camera bump. So you can’t use the iPhone 13’s Same for iPhone 12 case.
It still has sharp edges and is protected by a tempered glass made by Corning. It comes in Pink, Blue, Midnight, Starlight and (Product) Red. Because it has a bigger battery than the iPhone 12, it weighs 173 grams, making it 10 grams heavier.
Camera
The iPhone 13 has an improved 12MP (f/1.6) main camera with 1.7 µm pixels. And the company says it’s the largest sensor ever in an iPhone dual-camera system. Sensor-shift OIS — a technology introduced. The iPhone 12 Pro Max is now available on the main camera for both the iPhone 13. There is a 12MP 120° ultra-wide (f/2.4) secondary camera.
You also get night mode feature with manual change on all cameras. You’ll automatically get a night mode icon when the phone detects a low-light scene.Images in low light with dramatically better texture, detail and less noise.
The camera UI is the same as the older models, with options to choose from Photo. Also Video, Portrait, Pano, Timelapse, Slow-mo and the new Cinematic mode. For photos, you get a new photographic style filter. iPhone cameras still don’t have a Pro model to manually adjust ISO, shutter speed, and other things. iPhone 13 also lacks RAW mode. There are third-party apps to get these features, but most are paid.
Daylight shots from the 12MP camera came out well with plenty of detail. Also vibrant colors and bright dynamic range. 2X is decent, but the quality drops once you zoom in because it’s digital zoom. Portrait mode is brilliant with perfect edge detection. The 12MP camera’s ultra-wide shots are also bright, and have the same detail. color and dynamic range as the original camera.
Low light shots are also good. If you enable Night Mode, images are slightly brighter with better dynamic range. But images are softer without much color. Even the ultra-wide camera supports night mode, but without night mode. The images look dull because of the low aperture.
Photos from the 12MP selfie camera are good with bright dynamic range and color. But it uses the same sensor as the iPhone 12. Besides to the normal wide images, which have a 23mm equal FoV, there is a zoom-in model, but it crops at 7MP or 30mm FoV. Portraits are also good with bright edge detection.
All iPhone 13 models feature Cinematic mode with depth effects including automatic focus change. Focus can be changed during and after capture. And you can also adjust the level of bokeh in the Photos app and iMovie for iOS and iMovie for macOS and Final Cut Pro.
Cinematic mode records in Dolby Vision HDR. It also offers HDR video recording with Dolby Vision. From capture to editing and sharing in up to 4K at 60 fps on all cameras. But, ProRes, an advanced video codec, is only available on the iPhone 13 Pro series. It also features slow motion video recording at 1080p at up to 240fps.
Video quality from all three cameras is brilliant. By enabling Dolby Vision, you get great dynamic range, Contrast and true colors in videos. There is wide stereo audio support at 192kbps for spatial sound in videos. Cinematic mode works similarly to portrait mode in that. it uses AI to detect faces or objects to automatically blur objects in the background. But edge detection is brighter than portrait video on other Android phones. Cinematic mode videos are recorded at 1080p resolution at 30fps.
Software and UI
The iPhone 13 was launched out of iOS 15, but the company released iOS 15.0.1 and iOS 15.0.2 updates for bug fixes, iOS 15.1. Which added the much-anticipated SharePlay feature that lets you watch. And enjoy content with your friends on FaceTime calls. .
iOS 15 brings spatial audio, voice isolation, portrait mode and more features to FaceTime. Grid View lets you see up to six faces in a grid at once in your group FaceTime calls. For the first time, you can create a unique FaceTime web link to connect with others who don’t have FaceTime. and the link opens to a web page, so it can also be accessed by Windows or Android users.
Apple later released iOS 15.1.1 update to improve call drop performance on iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 series. And the latest iOS 15.2 update added Apple Music Voice Plan. Legacy Contacts to manage your data after your death, and Find My, Hide My Email. And adds improvements to many more.
Shortcuts are new pre-built actions that let you overlay text on images or GIFs, plus a new collection of games lets you spend time with Siri. It’s more like IFTTT.
Focus mode, which spans the Apple ecosystem. is a new way to filter notifications based on what the user wants to focus on ‘at that moment’ such as work focus. Also personal focus or fitness focus. Notifications in iOS 15 are improved with a new feature called Notification Summary. And iOS 15 adds support for on-device intelligence for the Live Text feature.
But, only the Gmail app I use has the option to ‘mark as read’ and delete notifications directly. Other apps like Messages, WhatsApp and Telegram also wish they had this feature. I have to open the app every time to mark it as read or deleted.
But, only the Gmail app I use have ‘mark as read’ and delete options directly from the notifications. Wish other apps like Messages, WhatsApp and Telegram. This feature since I have to open the app every time to mark it as read or delete.
Live Text that works in Photos, Screenshots. Also Quick Look and Safari and Live Preview with the camera lets you copy and paste. lookup and translate thanks to the Apple Neural Engine. Spotlight offers rich results on contacts, movies, and TV shows. That combine all the information you’re looking for into one rich result. iOS 15 also brings redesigned Maps and Notes apps.
iOS 15 adds a lot of improvements to Siri, HomeKit, Find My, Translate. Apple TV and more, but Apple may improve it further in the future.
Face unlock
FaceID on the iPhone 13 combines. the flood illuminator and dot projector into one component, so it’s smaller. It’s fast to unlock the phone, and it works even in the dark. But, if you’re wearing a mask, it can’t recognize your face, so you have to enter the PIN every time or remove the mask.
That’s not a problem if you have an Apple Watch. Since Apple added a feature earlier this year that lets users unlocked. Their iPhone using Face ID with reduced security, as long as they’re wearing an Apple Watch. Apple has moved from the large physical TouchID fingerprint sensor. FaceID that is still present in its iPhone SE series. Based on the rumours, Apple may only bring under-screen Touch ID support to 2023 iPhones.
Music and Multimedia
Apple Music got spatial audio support earlier this year with Apple Music’s Dynamic Head Tracking. That provides an immersive experience for Dolby Atmos music. But it only works with AirPods Pro and AirPods 3rd Gen. I’ve been using other TWS earbuds with the iPhone. And haven’t experienced any issues with audio quality or connectivity. Most companies offer companion apps for the iPhone.
The iPhone 13 has the same speakers as the iPhone 12, one on the bottom and the other inside the earpiece grill. The speakers also support spatial audio and Dolby Atmos. Audio quality is brilliant with no distortion at full volume, and clear bass and highs. It is better than any other smartphone in the price range.
Dual SIM and Connectivity
While the iPhone 13 has a single physical SIM slot, it also comes with eSIM support, so you can use it as a secondary SIM. It has 5G (sub-6 GHz) and gigabit-class LTE support
It supports several 5G and LTE bands, so you can use the phone in different countries At launch. Apple said the iPhone 13 series features a customized hardware design that packs more 5G bands. Allowing it to operate 5G in more places for greater coverage and performance.
It supports 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 with 2×2 MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0. Ultra Wideband chip for spatial awareness, NFC with reader mode and GPS with GLONASS.
According to the Apple website, the iPhone 13 has a head SAR of 1.18 W/kg (over 1 g) and a body SAR of 1.19 W/kg (over 1 g). Which is slightly higher than some mid-range phones. But in India it is below the limit which is 1.6 W/kg (more than 1 gram).
Performance and Benchmarks
The iPhone 13 is powered by the A15 Bionic 5nm chip with around 15 billion transistors. Compared to the A14 Bionic’s 11.8 billion transistors. It has a new 6-core CPU with two high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores. that the company says is 50% faster than the competition and the fastest of any smartphone.
The new 4-core GPU in the iPhone 13 is up to 30% faster than the competition, Apple says. The iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max models have a five-core GPU. Which promises 50% faster performance than the competition. It has a new 16-core neural engine capable of 15.8 trillion operations per second. Compared to the A14 Bionic’s 11 trillion operations per second.
Performance is smooth with no lag. And the faster GPU delivers better gaming performance than the iPhone 12. But, the gaming experience of the iPhone 13 Pro models is slightly better. Thanks to the more GPU cores and a higher refresh rate screen. Check out the synthetic benchmark scores below, where it tops the charts
I didn’t face any heating issues while gaming, but the battery drains quickly while gaming. Which is common with all iPhone models.
Battery life
The iPhone 13 packs a 3227mAh battery compared to the 2815mAh on the iPhone 12, making it 15% larger. Apple promises 19 hours of video playback on a single charge on the iPhone 13. Based on my usage, the iPhone 13 lasted 2 days with casual use and a day with heavy use. It got close to 8 hours screen on time with 2 days of use.
It supports USB-PD charging. Apple recommends 20W PD charging, but it can use up to 23W of power. Apple says it can charge up to 50% in 30 minutes when using the PD charger. You can charge up to 80% in 50 minutes. But the last 20% charge takes around an hour, so it takes around 2 hours to charge the phone to 100%. Apple does this to maintain battery health. If you use a normal fast charger, it takes about 4 hours to charge the phone to 100%.
It also features up to 15W wireless charging using an Apple MagSafe charger. Which can charge the phone to 100% in less than 2 to 2.5 hours, compared to the predecessor’s 3 hours. But, if you use a Qi-compatible charger, it can only charge at a greatest of 7.5W.
Conclusion
Overall, the iPhone 13 is a worthy upgrade to the iPhone 12. While it retains the same design and almost the same features. It has seen an upgrade in terms of battery, performance and camera Apple also offers a 5-year OS upgrade. That lets you keep the phone for several years without upgrading to a new model.
After trying the iPhone 13 Pro with a 120Hz refresh rate screen, I miss it on the iPhone 13. We also have to wait for the iPhone 14 to move Apple’s notch iOS still needs improvements. And hopefully we can expect them in iOS 16 next year.
Alternatives
The iPhone 12 is still a good phone after the recent price drop. If you’re fine with a smaller screen and a smaller battery. You can go for the iPhone 13 mini, which offers similar specifications to the iPhone 13 in a smaller body.
On the Android side, we don’t have a small Android flagship. That offers a complete package as ASUS is yet to launch the 8Z in India. With a 6.2-inch screen, the Samsung Galaxy S21 is slightly taller than the iPhone 13. But has the same width and comes with an IP68 rating for water resistance. You can also look forward to the upcoming Galaxy S22 which is expected to feature a smaller 6-inch screen.
Pricing and availability
iPhone 12 128GB which is the new base model priced at Rs. 79,900, the same as the iPhone 12’s launch price. The 256GB version is priced at Rs. 89,900 for another Rs 10,000, but the top-end iPhone 13 512GB model costs us Rs. 1,09,900. Apple is expected to start local assembly of the iPhone 13 in February 2022. But we can’t expect the price to drop until the iPhone 14 launches in late 2022.
