Verdict
The iPhone 13 Pro might no longer be the very good iPhone around , yet if you could find it for a good price there are still some first-class characteristic here – and it ’s a good overall buy than the iPhone 14 .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The iPhone 13 Pro brought with it a number of firsts for the flagship smartphone from Apple and even a year on it stay an excellent phone we can still urge .
great features added with the 13 Pro include a completely Modern screen tech , a significant upgrade in low - tripping camera public presentation when compared to the 12 Pro , plus much better barrage life .
The headphone is no longer sold by Apple , who supersede it with theiPhone 14 Proin September 2022 , yet if can get one for a brassy price then it remains a solid sound capable of running the latestiOS 16software .
Design and screen
explain the benefit of fast refresh rate showing and 120Hz is difficult . It ’s really one of those things you require to try out in the shop to get a feel for what it adds .
All previous iPhones ( and theiPhone 13 ) have include 60Hz panels , which mean they attempt to brush up 60 prison term every second . But on the iPhone 13 and 13 Pro , the panel can now refreshen up to 120Hz – or 120 times a second .
At its most basic , this make action mechanism finger faster . There ’s no jarring as you scroll through a website or around the homescreen , while apps rise into view smoothly .
Refreshing at 120Hz is n’t always a estimable use of goods and services of power , however , so theseLTPOpanels are adaptive – they move between refresh rate depending on the job at hand . This is what Apple callsProMotion .
When you ’re doing something on your headphone where 120Hz is potential to make a seeable divergence , such as scrolling Twitter or gaming , the panel will train for that – and , in my experience , hit it . However , if you ’re look out a YouTube telecasting , most of which are shot at 30fps , the cover will slow down . read a book ? It will get even slow , down to a Sir David Alexander Cecil Low of 10Hz .
My only thin disappointment here is that there is n’t a manner for the projection screen to go down to 1Hz , which could have enabled a cagey always - on presentation to keep the time and presentment always seeable . Apple affiance a similar illusion on the Apple Watch , and with so many Android phone include these always - on displays , it feel like a missing trick on the iPhone 13 Pro .
I noticed the benefit of ProMotion right from the setup screen , and even follow a hebdomad of use , its issue still stand out . The smoother scrolling is noticeable everywhere ( particularly in Apple ’s apps and those updated to fully take advantage ) , and now when I pick up the iPhone 13 oriPhone 12 Pro , it just feels dull .
Now , Apple is far from the first to implement such tech . There were 90Hz screens on Android phones in 2017 and all thebest Android phonesof 2022 use them . I ’m just beaming Apple has finally brought the tech to the iPhone , since it always feel like the omit piece .
furtherance by , the iPhone 13 Pro ’s sieve is sublime – right up there with the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra for quality . The OLED control board give birth deep blacks with infinite contrast , while the brightness levels make outdoor legibility among the best I ’ve see .
While the larger 6.7 - in Pro Max is for certain the one to go for if you take in a lot of video on your headphone , the 6.1 - inch is no slouch . I loaded up a few episodes of Our Planet on Netflix and Foundation on Apple TV Plus , and the vividness and vibrancy of the coloration expose are glorious . To my oculus it ’s a less saturated show compare to the Samsung flagships , showing more born tones .
One of the more obvious visual changes is the small nick that houses the TrueDepth front photographic camera system . Apple says it ’s around 20 % smaller , but really it ’s just narrower rather than smaller all around . If you ’re not a sports fan of the snick , then you ’re unlikely to be rock here . If it did n’t inconvenience oneself you before , then you ’re likely to remain unaffected by it here .
Apple eventually ditched , or at least heavily altered it , with the launch of the iPhone 14 Pro with itsDynamic Island .
It ’s slightly thicker and heavier ( the Max , in special , is very heavy ; see below for all the weight and dimension ) , with a far great tv camera mental faculty to house the novel picture taking setup . Everything else , from the shiny stainless blade slope to the frosted back and the Ceramic Shield front , is the same . It retains an IP68 evaluation , too .
Full Specs
The gripes I had about the iPhone 12 Pro ’s stainless blade side remain here : even on the 13 Pro , these areas quickly become greasy and smear . This is a job with the 14 Pro , too .
Apple has added an extra color option with the 12 Pro , however , in the form of Sierra Blue . It is n’t as rich as the Pacific Blue iPhone 12 Pro – it has a silver finish – but I like it a muckle . The other coloring are Gold , Graphite , Green and Silver .
Camera
When Apple launched the iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max , both models were fairly different . If you desire in - torso stabilisation or the bigger , wide sensor , you had to opt for the 6.7 - inch Max modeling . This is n’t the case anymore .
Both the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max come with the exact same camera – and , in many situations , and even a yr on , it is still one of the best smartphone cameras around .
The triple - camera array comprise of a 12 - megapixel full sensor with an f/1.5 lens system , a 12 - megapixel f/1.8 radical - wide for a 120 - degree field of scene , and a 12 - megapixel 77 mm telephotograph equal to of 3x opthalmic zoom . There ’s also a LiDAR sensor to help with low - light portrait .
That 12 - megapixel wide camera has far big pixels and a wider aperture than before . Apple claims this can have in 2.2x more visible light than before . In addition , Apple claims the novel ultra - wide can also allow in 92 % more light .
The 12 - megapixel across-the-board camera is simply sensational . Those bigger pixels give trope more natural depth , while the level of detail bewitch , peculiarly in pelt and hair’s-breadth , is wonderful . Apple ’s Smart HDR system is now in its fourth looping , and it does a wonderful job of levelling out dynamical range and colours in tricksy situation while keeping everything looking realistic .
depend at the image below , you’re able to see the specks of grit attach to the hot dog ’s face and the individual fibril in the sheep ’s coat . Again , in the shot of the firedog on the beach , there ’s a adorable natural blur in the background that all come from that prominent sensing element .
However , it ’s at night where we see the biggest differences . The iPhone 13 Pro relies on its dedicated Night mode far less , since the all-encompassing aperture Lashkar-e-Toiba in mint of natural light . The shots below of solid food were adopt in near - accomplished swarthiness , with only a smattering of candles for Inner Light . Yet , there ’s plenty of point and born colours on show . The easy sources are also right exposed ; they ’re not blown out .
The Night mode is still present , and you may see how it helps get far more dynamism in the sunset shots below . You still ca n’t enable this Night mode manually – it just pass over into activity when the lighter is in particular low-pitched .
master camera aside , the optical rapid climb has now been happen up to 3x ( 77 mm ) , so you may punch in a little more than before . This is fantastic for portraits – and you could get some quite striking image . However , it is n’t comparable to the rapid climb features of the S21 Ultra or new S22 Ultra , which still pull out far crisper shot thanks to the periscope setup .
The zoom camera has a irksome lens when compared to the 12 Pro . It ’s now f/2.8 rather than f/2.0 , meaning that while daylight zooming is better , at night it ’s fractionally less up to than before .
in conclusion , there ’s the radical - broad . This 12 - megapixel detector is pulling double tariff this class , since it ’s used both for typical ultra - wide shots and for the new Macro mode . The radical - full guessing I ’ve lead are in general pleasing , with Apple managing to keep the color between the three sensors front very even .
The Macro modal value is fun and can be used to take some great shots . It ’s far good than any Android speech sound with a low - res macro sensor and , as you may see from the two images below , it does take hold of some fantastic details .
Over on the video side , there ’s a new Cinematic mode that is basicallyPortrait mode for television . It take this idea further by adding in centering racking , which allows the television camera to switch focus points if a fount turns away , for object lesson .
Like Portrait mode when it was first introduced , the gist is a little janky in its current physique , going from look majuscule to terrible super - apace . But , the nidus racking work well and I hope the effect will meliorate in the time to come . Be monish it only works up to 1080p 30fps , so factor that in when you ’re deciding which style to shoot with .
Later in the twelvemonth , the iPhone 13 Pro will also get ahead financial support for ProRes recording – a format that allow for gravid ascendence over colour leveling in post - production . queerly , if you have the 128 GB Pro model then you wo n’t be capable to shoot ProRes in 4 grand , in all likelihood due to the space it takes up .
I ’d have liked to have seen some more upgrades to the front camera . The 12 - megapixel selfie camera has been the same for generations now , and it could really do with a minuscule more care .
However , my large criticism of the photographic camera is the app , which is start to feel quite bogged down by all the mode and options . It remains canonic in parts , but still convoluted and confusing . Options are hidden behind tiny UI ingredient , and all the different video options are part from each other . For case , the fresh Photography Styles feature is hide away , not easy to retrieve .
These Photography Styles cater a lilliputian more control condition over the feeling of your snap . The vivacious style advance colours and saturation , very much in the vein of a Galaxy S - serial publication flagship . The High Contrast option up the dynamic kitchen stove , produce striking results that are n’t too dissimilar to those from a Google Pixel . Finally , there ’s Warm and Cool , both of which do pretty much what they say on the tin .
It ’s important to not view these options only as filters . They forthwith interpolate the grapevine of the image , entail you ca n’t jerk between styles or remove them once you ’ve drive the photo . Still , they ’re a welcome addition .
Performance
Powering the phone is theA15 Bionic , which has a six - core CPU , five - core GPU and a 16 - sum nervous locomotive for AI tasks . Apple has kitted out the Pro models with a five - core GPU rather than the four - core reading in the iPhone 13 – although the benefits of this are n’t unmortgaged . There ’s also 6 GB of RAM , which is a 2 GB rise on the regular iPhone 13 models .
Interestingly , Apple has continue the same chipset around for the iPhone 14 – so the 13 Pro perform basically the same as the newer sound .
I ran a cycle of the Geekbench 5 synthetic benchmarking app to get a quick overview of the carrying into action of the A15 Bionic , and the results impressed . In the multi - core examination , the grievance of 4791 comfortably amaze the well Android phones and the 4007 score of the iPhone 12 Pro .
Test Data
But benchmarks only tell part of the story ; it ’s the twenty-four hours - to - 24-hour interval improvements that typically make the bigger difference . I ca n’t say that the A15 Bionic makes it palpate any quicker than before , but that ’s not to say that extra oomph is n’t require . It powers the Cinematic mood , the Live Text feature article and the ability to shoot ProRaw and ProRes . It also insure that the ProMotion screen solve as well as it can .
All the games I seek from Apple Arcade ( The Pathless , Asphalt 8 + , Sayonara Wild Hearts ) played without a stoppage . Some games can even use that ProMotion freshen rate to play at 120Hz , with menus at 60Hz to carry through assault and battery life .
There ’s a wider natural selection of 5 gigabyte bands this year thanks to a fresh 5 gigabyte modem – and some region , such as the USA , will get a model with mmWave 5G. There ’s no Wi - Fi 6E keep , though , which might annoy those who invested betimes in a compatible router . Call timber and Wi - Fi response are both fantabulous .
The base storage size of it is still 128 GB , with 256 GB and 512 GB the two choice I ’d intimate for most people . Then there ’s a 1 TB version – a first for an iPhone . That 1 TB exemplar might come in ready to hand if you project to shoot pic purely in ProRaw and video recording in ProRes – since , of course , there ’s still no expansible repositing .
Battery life
All the iPhone 13 models have received cock-a-hoop , very noticeable upgrades to their endurance . The iPhone 13 Pro survive far longer than both the 12 Pro , 11 Pro and even more so than iPhone 14 Pro .
If you want the sheer best battery on an iPhoneever , go for the 13 Pro Max . However , the 13 Pro has still comfortably make do to get me through the day , process into the next day if I was n’t advertize it too heavily .
Most nighttime after a long workday I was left with 10 - 15 % in the tank , and that ’s after many hours of screen - on clock time , along with bout of streaming from Audible and YouTube , and constant Slack , Whatsapp and email alerts .
This increase in stamina comes from a few unlike upgrades . There ’s a big barrage , a more efficient chipset and ProMotion .
commit is still via Lightning , which means we ’re still waiting for an iPhone with USB - C. For a Pro phone that could be transfer innumerable gigabytes of ProRes footage , the slowness of Lightning ( which run over USB 2.0 ) just is n’t up to much .
The genuine charge speeds are pretty straightaway , even if phone from the like of Xiaomi and OnePlus leave it in the dust . Using a 20W battery charger ( not included ) and the let in USB - C to Lightning cable system , I managed 15 % in 9 minutes ; 50 % in 33 min and a full charge in 98 bit .
If you prefer the wireless spirit , the iPhone 13 Pro patronize both the standard 7.5W Qi charging and Apple ’s ownMagSafesolution . The latter charges at 15W.
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[ squirrel make=”Apple ” model=”iPhone 13 Pro ” asin=”B09G93YCF1″ ]
Should you buy it?
The 120Hz ProMotion screen here is glorious ; it ’s great to see Apple finally add the feature we ’ve been bask on Android phones for years .
I have intercourse the camera on the iPhone 13 Pro , but it would be nice to see Apple follow Samsung ’s lede ( among many others ) and utilise a periscope zoom . Until then , the iPhone ’s rapid climb will never bequitethe best .
Final Thoughts
The iPhone 13 Pro looks great , includes one of the skillful cameras around , and far dependable battery life than I ’ve ever visit before on a smaller - sized Pro role model . It ’s a grotesque telephone set that tick just about all the box – and this is still the case a year after release .
The addition of the 120Hz presentation feels like the frosting on the cake . For so long this has been a glaring omission from the iPhone spec list , reserved for Android devices only . Now that ’s no longer the case – and it ’s enceinte news program .
The iPhone 13 Pro might no longer be the verybest iPhonearound , yet if you could find it for a serious cost there are still some excellent features here – and it ’s a good overall buy than theiPhone 14 .
Trusted Score
How we test
We try every wandering phone we review thoroughly . We use industriousness standard tests to compare feature of speech properly and we use the phone as our main gimmick over the review menses . We ’ll always tell apart you what we find and we never , ever , take money to look back a ware .
FAQs
The unconstipated Pro has the 6.1 - inch display , while the Pro Max ups that to 6.7 - inch .
In the USA the iPhone 13 Pro supports mmWave 5G. This is n’t on the UK mannikin .
There is no charger in the boxwood , just a cable’s length .
