iPhone 13: Seven key upgrades coming in Apple's new mobile series
Apple, earlier in the week, unveiled four new variants of the iPhone 13 series. They come with minor design changes compared to the 2020-series iPhone 12 models but come with a boatload of upgrades in terms of internal hardware.
Here are seven key upgrades of the iPhone 13 series over the predecessor:
Apple A15 Bionic
Inside, all the four iPhone 13 series models feature an Apple A15 Bionic chipset with a new 6-core CPU with two performance and four efficiency cores and a new 16-core Neural Engine.
However, the iPhone 13 and 13 mini feature 4-core GPU, whereas the iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max have 5-core GPU.
Apple A15 Bionic comes with a whopping 15 billion transistors and the chipset is capable of performing 15.8 trillion operations per second. It is said to offer 50 per cent faster performance and 30 per cent better graphics processsing capability over the nearest competitor (read Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset).
And, A15 Bionic promises a better and faster response from Siri (with or without internet), operate power-intensive apps smoothly and also the new image signal processor (ISP) which comes integrated with A15 Bionic will ensure better photos on iPhone than ever before.
Camera hardware:
Both the iPhone 13 and 13 mini come with the new Wide camera, with 1.7 µm pixels, the biggest sensor ever in an iPhone dual-camera system. It is capable of gathering 47 percent more light for less noise and brighter results.
Also, they boast Sensor-shift OIS — a technology first introduced in iPhone 12 Pro Max and not found in any other smartphone. They also come to the Wide camera, even in the more compact iPhone 13 mini. It stabilises the sensor instead of the lens so shots are more steady, while the custom-designed Ultra Wide camera with a new sensor captures images with more detail in the dark areas of photos and videos with less noise.
As far as the iPhone 13 Pro and the 12 Pro Max, they come with an all-new Wide camera that has a larger sensor with 1.9 µm pixels, the largest ever on iPhone, for less noise and faster shutter speeds needed across lighting conditions, promising even more detailed photos.
Coupled with the larger ƒ/1.5 aperture, the Wide camera on iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max offers a massive improvement in low-light situations, up to 2.2x when compared to iPhone 12 Pro, and nearly 1.5x when compared to iPhone 12 Pro Max.
The new Ultra Wide camera features a much wider ƒ/1.8 aperture and a new autofocus system, bringing a 92 percent improvement for low-light environments, which promises to produce images that are brighter and sharper.
Furthermore, the macro shots on iPhone 13 Pro series will be better than ever. Users can capture sharp, stunning images where objects appear larger than life, magnifying subjects with a minimum focus distance of 2 centimeters. Macro also extends to video including Slo-mo and Time-lapse.
They feature an improved 77mm 12MP Telephoto sensor. It now supports 3x optical zoom for a total 6x optical zoom range on the camera system.
All four iPhone 13 series model boast Cinematic mode. They can record videos of people, pets, and objects with a beautiful depth effect with automatic focus changes. This will greatly help common users to make creative short movies. Guess what, the focus can be changed during and after capture, and users can also adjust the level of bokeh in the Photos app and iMovie for iOS and apps as well.
Backed by A15 Bionic and advanced machine learning algorithms, Cinematic mode records in Dolby Vision HDR. All models (with 256GB or more storage) also offer HDR video recording with Dolby Vision — from capture to editing and sharing — now supported for 4K up to 60 fps on all cameras.
Also, Apple has revealed that the iPhone 13 Pro models will support ProRes, an advanced video codec used widely as the final delivery format for commercials, feature films, and broadcasts, to offer higher color fidelity and less compression. However, this will be enabled in a future software update.
All four models feature the 12MP (f/2.2) True Depth sensor, but the Pro models support ProRes video recording up to 4K at 30 fps (1080p at 30 fps for 128GB capacity).
Battery:
All four iPhone 13 models promise to offer significantly longer battery life.
To be precise, the iPhone 13 mini and the standard iPhone 13 will be able to deliver close to 17.5 hours and 19 hours of video playback, respectively. That's 1.2 hours and 2.5 hours longer than the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12, respectively.
On the other hand, the iPhone 13 Pro and the 13 Pro Max can offer up to 22 hours and 28 hours of video playback. That's 1.5 hours and 2.5 hours longer than the iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, respectively.
Display
They come with much improved Super Retina XDR OLED displays. They promise to deliver an incredible contrast ratio for true blacks and a 28 percent increase in maximum outdoor brightness at 800 nits, with higher peak brightness for HDR content like photos and videos at 1200 nits.
Additionally, the iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro support ProMotion technology. The device is intelligent enough to know what the user is doing such as browsing the internet, reading content, playing games, and even understand the type of environment(indoors or outdoors), and dynamically adjust the display refresh rate from 10Hz to 120Hz.
Storage
Apple now offers a bigger base storage model of 128GB for iPhone 13 and 13 mini along with 256GB and 512GB, a first for this standard iPhone model. Previously, Apple used to offer three 64GB, 128GB and 256GB models. Apple is bringing new pink colour along with standard blue, midnight, starlight, and (PRODUCT) RED options.
As far as the iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max, they are now available in 1TB storage, a first for any iPhone model to date. They are also available in three other options-- 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB storage. Also, Apple is introducing the new colour sierra blue in addition to standard graphite, gold, silver options.
Design
The only discernible change we see in the iPhone 13 and 13 mini is the diagonally placed dual-camera system on the back. The iPhone 12, and 12 mini come with vertically aligned sensors.
On the front, all four iPhone 13 models feature a smaller camera notch at the top centre. It is now 20 per cent slimmer than its predecessor.
Dual e-SIM
Though Apple did not mention anything in the presentation, the specification chart of the iPhone 13 models says they now support dual e-SIM options. This means users can simultaneously use two e-SIMs at any time.
Previous models ( 2017-series iPhone XR, XS to 12 series) support more than two e-SIMs. But, Apple allowed users to operate only one physical and one e-SIM simultaneously, but not two e-SIMs.
Must read | Apple iPhone 12 Pro review: Back to the future
Now, the new iPhone 13 series owners can easily use two e-SIMs and this comes in handy while touring exotic international locations and avoid expensive ISD bills. Also, we can now forego the physical SIM for good.
However, it depends on the local cellular network operators.
Apple iPhone 13 Pro price starts at Rs 1,19,900 and the iPhone 13 Pro Max begins at Rs 1,29,900. The iPhone 13 price starts at Rs 79,900 and iPhone 13 mini base variant will be available for Rs 69,900.
Honourable mention
Environment-friendly components
All the iPhone 13 series models are made of environment-friendly materials. The Phone 13 is said to be designed to minimise its impact on the environment, including antenna lines that use upcycled plastic water bottles that have been chemically transformed into a stronger, high-performance material — an industry first.
The new iPhone also uses 100 per cent recycled rare earth elements in magnets like those used in MagSafe, 100 per cent recycled tin in the solder of the main logic board and, for the first time, in the solder of the battery management unit. Both models also use 100 per cent recycled gold in the plating of the main logic board and the wire in the front camera and rear cameras. Redesigned packaging eliminates the outer plastic wrap, avoiding 600 metric tons of plastic and bringing Apple closer to its goal of completely removing plastic from all packaging by 2025.
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