The All-New Apple iPhone 13 and Which One You Should Buy

The newest iteration of the Apple – iPhone 13 might not seem a massive upgrade from the last year’s iPhone 12 series, but you’ll find some fantastic new features packed into the latest models. The four new iPhone 13 models are slightly different, making it challenging to choose which one to buy. We’re here to help you break things down and let you make a better choice in selecting the perfect iPhone 13 for you.

About The New iPhone 13

The iPhone 13 might seem like a minor incremental upgrade from the previous generation. But it is still poised to continue its super sale cycle once again, offering more value for customers having older models.

Exciting read: Innovation Talk: Latest Global Smartphone Market Trends 

1. Price

The iPhone 13 lineup has four variants, with the 13 Mini being the least expensive. The mini 128GB variant starts at $699, 256GB costs $799 and the 512GB version comes at $999.

The iPhone 13 with 128GB starts at $799, best for people who want a good quality phone under a thousand dollars. The next iteration with 256GB comes in at $899 and maxes out at $1,099 with a storage of 512GB.

After that comes the Pro lineup. The iPhone 13 Pro starts with 128GB storage for $999, and if you want to double the storage to 256GB, you must pay an additional $100. You have to put a dent in your wallet to get the 512GB storage version at $1,299 and $1,499 for a terabyte of storage.

iPhone 13 Pro Max is the top end of the newest lineup starting at $1,099 for a 128GB storage version and $1,199 for 256GB. The 512GB version will cost you $1,399 and a jaw-dropping $1,599 for the one terabyte storage version.

Now, the price is all here for you to evaluate. Today, most people store most of their content in the cloud with many options and will be happy to go with the $128GB iPhone 13 version. However, if you take many photos and videos, you might have to go a bit up and shed a hundred bucks more for 256GB storage.

2. Design and Size

Once again, Apple has a size for everyone. From the pint-sized iPhone 13 mini to the super-sized iPhone 13 Pro Max. If you love compact-sized phones, the iPhone 13 mini is the best option for you, with a measure of 5.18 by 2.53 by 0.30 inches (HWD) and weighing 4.97 ounces.

Then comes the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro. Both with the same measure of 5.78 by 2.82 by 0.30 inches. The iPhone 13 is the lighter of the two at 6.14 ounces with an aluminum chassis. In comparison, the iPhone 13 Pro weighs 7.19 ounces with its stainless-steel rails.

Whereas the top-of-the-line iPhone 13 Pro Max is the biggest in size and bulkiest of all. iPhone 13 Pro max measures at 6.33 by 3.07 by 0.30 inches and weighs 8.46 ounces.

It’s dependent on your preference for the size, but overall, we think iPhone 13 is the best option for most people.

Regarding the new design, iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro are alike with an edge-to-edge display, flat edges, and slightly smaller notches at the top. One design feature differentiating iPhone 13 is made from what Apple calls “aerospace-grade aluminum” with a brushed aluminum finish.

While the iPhone 13 Pro is made of “surgical-grade stainless steel”, displaying a shiny stainless finish, the material difference is the reason for iPhone 13 Pro being slightly heavier.

The iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro are IP68 rated for splash, water, and dust resistance. That means the new iPhone can withstand submersion to a maximum depth of 6 meters for up to 30 minutes.

Let us help you select the best iPhone 13 case to protect and safeguard your new smartphone from any wear and tear.

3. New Display

All four new iPhone 13 models have brighter screens, smaller notch, and a few extra benefits if you go for one of the Pro models.

The iPhone 13 comes with Apple’s new Super Retina XDR OLED displays. iPhone 13 comes with a typical outdoor brightness of 800 nits and peaking at 1200 in HDR mode. On the other hand, the display on iPhone 13 Pro Max model is 1000 nits in familiar outdoor situations and can go to a peak of 1200.

A significant difference between the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro models is the ProMotion display with an adaptive refresh rate. The iPhone 13 Pro models with ProMotion allow the display to go from a speedy 120Hz to 10Hz to conserve battery life.

Though it’s disappointing that you won’t find all iPhone 13 models with a 120Hz display and only comes in the Pro models, that makes them stand out. Let’s go into detail about each model:

The iPhone 13 mini, the smallest, packs a 5.4-inch, 2,340-by-1,080 OLED display. The iPhone 13 comes with a 6.1-inch, 2,532-by-1,170 OLED display. Like iPhone 13, the iPhone 13 Pro has the same size display, only augmented with Apple’s ProMotion technology.

The iPhone 13 Pro Max comes with a 6.7 inch, 2,778-by-1,284 OLED screen with ProMotion technology that can be a perfect smartphone for streaming video or gaming.

4. Camera Upgrades

Each year Apple has been upgrading its camera hardware and software significantly. There are some differences between the regular and Pro models, but overall, the iPhone allows you to take one of the best photos with a smartphone device.

The sensor-shift stabilization technology previously limited to the iPhone 12 Pro models is now available in all the new iPhone 13 models. The stabilization technology moves camera sensors to remove vibrations that distort blue photos. Similarly, the premium night mode is available on all the lenses in the new series.

The improved 12MP primary lens with an aperture of f/1.6 offers better output for low-light photos. The Pro models include a 12MP ultra-wide lens with an f/2.4 aperture for professional photo creation. The new iPhone 13 series also has an updated ISP and computational photography software.

Pro models, including iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max, have the same cameras with a rear 12MP primary lens and f/1.5 aperture, large 1.9-micron pixels capable of macro photography. The Pro model’s telephoto lens has an f/2.8 aperture clocking at 12MP. And the 12MP ultra-wide lens has an f/1.8 aperture to assist in low-light performance.

The Pro models have macro photography, ProRaw images, 3x optical zoom, and Apple’s ProRes video capture. The regular iPhone 13 models don’t support these features.

iPhone 13 Pro is the best option for smartphone shutterbugs, costing less than the expensive Pro Max variant. If you’re just someone who doesn’t need professional-grade photography and rely heavily on Auto mode, the iPhone 13 should do it for you.

5. Apple’s Latest A15 Bionic Processor

Apple iPhone 13 is powered by the latest A15 Bionic processor with a 6-core CPU with four efficiency and two performance cores. The A15 Bionic chip is built on a 5-nanometer chip, four for rigorous loads to increase efficiency and two for demanding tasks. Apple claims their new A15 Bionic processor offers 50% faster performance than the leading competitors.

The iPhone 13 has four GPU cores, while the iPhone 13 Pro has five. Thereby, the iPhone 13 provides 30% better graphics, and the iPhone 13 Pro offers 50% better graphics performance than the leading Android phones.

Apple’s latest flagship doesn’t have any changes to the RAM configuration. The iPhone 13 comes with 4GB of RAM, and the iPhone 13 Pro packs 6GB of RAM. Undeniably, Apple’s new series is powerful, and you won’t feel any issues during everyday performance.

iPhone 13 launches apps instantly, and swapping between apps is also seamless. Gaming on the latest iPhone works like a breeze with quick loading on the OLED display.

6. Storage Options

The new iPhone 13 series models start from 128GB of storage and can go up to 1 terabyte of storage as the best storage option. The iPhone 13 mini and iPhone 13 come in base 128GB and go up to 512GB. In comparison, the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max have a maximum storage space of up to 1 terabyte storage.

7. Connectivity

All the latest iPhone 13 models support 5G and LTE networks. The latest 5G modems in the iPhone 13 phones work with mmWave and Sub-6GHz 5G.

The 5G networks, mmWave, and Sub-6GHz work on the Apple iPhone 13. These mmWave 5G networks are the fastest but short-range and can be obstructed by buildings, trees, or other obstacles. Thereby limiting its use only in major cities and urban areas with venues like airports, concerts, and other places where many people gather.

While the Sub-6GHz 5G network is more prevalent and available in rural, urban, and suburban areas across many countries, you’ll typically be using Sub-6GHz 5G whenever you use a 5G network.

Though Sub-6GHz 5G is faster than the previous LTE networks, it is still evolving and isn’t something super-fast that you might expect.

5G connectivity support allows the iPhone 13 series to have faster download and upload speeds which can speed up everything, from streaming movies to loading websites quickly.

The overall bandwidth increases to stream in higher resolution and improve FaceTime call quality.

8. Battery Size

All the new iPhone 13 models come with larger batteries, so you’ll be able to get through the day without facing any issues. While the batteries, in numbers, are just a little larger than the previous iPhone 12 series, the phones are considerably more efficient and offer longer battery life.

iPhone 13 Mini comes with a 2,406mAh battery. This is an improvement to the 2,227mAh battery in the previous iPhone 12 mini, but overall, it’s still small.

The middle range models, iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro have a 3,095mAh battery. That’s more than the previous 2,815mAh batteries in the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro. And the top-of-the-line iPhone 13 Pro Max houses a massive 4,352mAh battery and can last much longer than the previous year model.

Overall, Apple’s new flagship series should get you through the day without much trouble, only apart from the iPhone 13 mini.

Complete iPhone 13 Series and How Do They Compare with Each Other

Conclusion: Should You Upgrade to The New iPhone

Should you upgrade, and if you choose to, which variant should you go with? Well, that’s entirely your decision to make and depends on your requirements and the money you can quickly shed. What we think is most people with normal usage would be happy to go with iPhone 13. It offers a balance of everything, from features to battery life and camera.  

The iPhone 13 is an excellent phone with many loveable features but still missing some of the much-looked-for features such as USB-C support and an in-screen fingerprint reader.

Note: Never buy a refurbished mobile phone before you know your game.

For creative geeks and gamers, probably the iPhone 13 Pro Max would be a perfect choice. It comes with a large ProMotion display for creative professionals and gamers, support for ProRes video and macro photography, a 3x zoom camera, and a massive battery that can easily take you through the day. That can be the optimal choice for heavy lifting throughout the day and still survive.

Don’t forget; you also have cheaper options in the iPhone 13 lineup. If you have budget constraints, you can pick the one that suits your priorities.

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