Apple iPhone 13 review: Everything you need to know

The iPhone 13’s brighter display, longer battery life and powerful cameras make it the best iPhone for most people

It may look like the iPhone 13 has only changed the position of one of its back cameras since last year's model, but trust us when we say that there are more substantial upgrades than that. With a new display, larger battery and better camera hardware and software, the iPhone 13 is the new benchmark for flagship phones.

Once again, Apple's made the iPhone 13 far more powerful than its Android competitors thanks to its 5G-ready A15 Bionic chip. If the raw performance doesn't interest you, photographers can play with the new Photographic Style filters in the camera app, while videographers will be excited by the new Cinematic mode focus-racking ability.

The regular iPhone 13 has some flaws. The charging is still relatively slow compared to some Android phones. And I don't like that only the iPhone 13 Pro models get a 120Hz display and telephoto zoom. But based on my in-depth iPhone 13 review, this new iPhone is the best phone for the money.

Available right now, the iPhone 13 starts at $799 for 128GB of storage (up from a meager 64GB on the iPhone 12), and that goes up to $899 for 256GB and $1,099 for 512GB. In the U.K. the entry-level model starts at £779, with the 256GB handset coming ins at £879, and the 512GB model hitting £1,079. 

These are hardly cheap phones but you can save with trade-in offers from Apple as well as from wireless carriers, and there are plenty of discounts available. Do make sure to check out our iPhone 13 deals page for the latest offers.

To put the price of the iPhone 13 in context, the Galaxy S22 — the iPhone's chief rival in the smartphone world — sells for the same $799. Our Galaxy S22 vs. iPhone 13 comparison looks at how these identically priced models measure up.

 

iPhone 13 Pro

At a Glance

• Apple's Pro iPhones with updated cameras, new colors, smaller notches, ProMotion display, 1TB max storage, and faster A15 chip. Launched September 24, 2021.

Features

6.1 and 6.7-inch sizes

Similar to iPhone 12 lineup

Smaller notch

120Hz ProMotion displays

Camera improvements

A15 Bionic Chip

5G

Introduced on September 14, 2021, the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max are Apple's newest high-end pro-level flagship iPhones and are being sold alongside the more affordable iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini. The iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max are ideal for those who want iPhones with the most features and the best cameras.

The 6.1-inch iPhone 13 Pro is the successor to the iPhone 12 Pro, while the 6.7-inch iPhone 13 Pro Max is the replacement for the iPhone 12 Pro Max. Both of the new iPhone 13 Pro models are nearly identical in design to the iPhone 12 Pro models, featuring flat edges, a stainless steel frame, a textured matte glass back, and a slight increase in thickness (7.65mm). The iPhone 13 Pro models are available in Silver, Gold, Sierra Blue, Graphite, and Alpine Green.

Both of the new models feature OLED Super Retina XDR Displays that support ProMotion technology with adaptive refresh rates ranging from 10Hz up to 120Hz, much like the iPad Pro models. The displays are up to 25 percent brighter outdoors.

The iPhone 13 Pro has a 2532x1170 resolution with 460 pixels per inch, while the iPhone 13 Pro Max has a 2778x1284 resolution with 458 pixels per inch. Both iPhones feature 1200 nits max brightness for HDR, along with True Tone to match the color temperature of the display to the ambient light, Wide Color for rich, vivid hues, and Haptic Touch for feedback.

The front-facing TrueDepth camera system has been updated and the Face ID notch is now smaller, taking up less overall space. Like last year's models, the iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max feature a Ceramic Shield cover glass that is infused with nano-ceramic crystals for better protection from drops. IP68 water and dust resistance is included, and the new iPhones can hold up to submersion in 6 meters of water for up to 30 minutes.

An upgraded A15 Bionic Chip powers the new iPhones. It features a 6-core CPU with 2 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores and a 5-core GPU, which is one more GPU core than is available in the iPhone 13 models. There's also a 16-core Neural Engine. The 5-core GPU offers 50% faster graphics performance than any other smartphone chip.

There's an upgraded triple-lens rear camera with an f/2.8 Telephoto lens, an f/1.5 Wide lens, and an f/1.8 Ultra Wide lens. The Wide lens features an aperture that lets in 2.2x more light and the largest sensor in an iPhone yet, while the Ultra Wide lens lets in 92 percent more light for better low-light performance.

The 77mm Telephoto lens features 3x optical zoom in, up from 2.5x in the 12 Pro Max, and with the addition of the Ultra Wide lens, there is a 6x optical zoom range and support for 15x digital zoom. There's also a LiDAR Scanner, which is not available on the iPhone 13 and 13 mini. Both Pro models have the same camera setups this year, with no differences between the Pro and Pro Max.

Along with the standard Portrait Mode, Night Mode, Time-Lapse and other photographic capabilities, the iPhone 13 Pro models gain Cinematic Mode, a feature that uses rack focus to seamlessly shift focus from one subject to another, artfully blurring the background and creating movie-quality depth effects. Cinematic mode shoots in Dolby HDR and the depth of field and blur can be adjusted using the iPhone's camera app. 4K video recording at up to 60 fps is also supported.

Smart HDR 4 recognizes up to four people in a photo and optimizes contrast, lighting, and skin tones for each one, and Deep Fusion, a carry over from iPhone 12, activates in mid to low-light scenes to bring out texture and detail.

Photographic Styles are an upgraded kind of filter that applies selectively to an image, muting colors or boosting vividness without impacting skin tones. There are Vibrant, Rich Contrast, Warm, and Cool options, along with settings for Tone and Warmth for customization and refining.

There are several Pro-only photographic capabilities that are limited to the triple-lens camera system including macro photography and videography for close-up macro shots with focus at 2cm, Night Mode support for the Telephoto lens, Night Mode portraits that require the LiDAR Scanner, and ProRes video recording that lets users record ProRes video in 4K at up to 30 frames per second. ProRes video is launching later this year.

Apple iPhone 13 review: Packed with features that matter

Dual camera, sensor-shift stabilization

The Apple iPhone 13 offers a similar camera setup to the iPhone 12's. There are two 12MP cameras on the back and one 12MP selfie shooter at the front. The SL 3D scanner for Face ID assists the Portrait mode in selfies.

There are two hardware upgrades and a couple of software ones available for the iPhone 13.

The primary 12MP camera has gotten a new sensor with larger pixels and high-end sensor-shift stabilization. It now uses a larger Sony sensor with 1.7µm pixels (vs. 1.4µm on the iPhone 12). The lens is 26mm f/1.6, like on the iPhone 12's main camera, but the stabilization is of a different kind. Instead of optical stabilization, this camera now uses the iPhone 12 Pro Max's sensor-shift stabilization. This means the sensor itself is stabilized in real-time and not the lens akin to the in-body stabilization or IBIS seen on many large-sensor digital cameras.

The secondary camera is identical to the iPhone 12's - a 12MP imager with 1.0µm pixels and 14mm f/2.4 lens for ultrawide photos. The focus is fixed, and there is no stabilization.

The selfie camera is also lifted straight from the iPhone 12. It has a 12MP sensor with 1.0µm pixels and a 23mm f/2.2 lens. The focus is once again fixed. When using portrait mode on this camera, it captures depth info with the structured-light 3D scanner, so it should be taking some impressive selfies portraits.

All three snappers support up to 4K@60fps video capturing with Cinematic Stabilization and Expanded Dynamic Range. Dolby Vision HDR capturing is possible on all cameras in all modes. The new Cinematic Mode works on the primary and selfie shooters only.

Camera app and features

The viewfinder has been mostly the same since the iOS 13 and the iPhone 11 - you can see outside of the viewfinder thanks to the precise calibration of the two cameras that allows seeing what will be left outside of the frame in real-time.

The Apple image processing includes all legacy features like Smart HDR, Night Mode on all cameras, and Deep Fusion.

The Night Mode icon pops up automatically when a low-light scene presents itself, and it will take a pseudo-long-exposure shot, handheld, of course. You will see the seconds suggested next to the Night Mode icon, but if you tap on it, you can change the simulated long exposure or altogether disable it. Usually, it's between 1 and 2 seconds, but sometimes the phone allows you to go for up to 30 seconds depending on the environmental light or its lack thereof. You can use this mode on the main, the ultrawide, and even the selfie snapper.

Deep Fusion is used when light conditions aren't ideal, say, indoors. It triggers instead of Smart HDR and Night Mode. Deep Fusion uses four frames before you hit the shutter, four more once you do, and one long exposure shot. The Neural engine will select the best frames and create a high-quality HDR photo that is very detailed, sharp, and more natural-looking. The Neural processor's machine learning process analyzes the image being taken and processes them differently depending on what's in the frame - say, sky, foliage, or skin tones. Meanwhile, structure and color tones are based on ratios obtained by the Neural unit on the A15 CPU.

As usual, all cameras talk to each other, so they already know the correct exposure and tone mapping settings when you switch between them. This applies to both stills and videos.

The camera interface is mostly unchanged. You swipe between modes and have a couple of settings you can uncover with an upward swipe - flash, night mode, live photo, photo aspect, exposure compensation, and filters. In video mode, you can change the resolution and frame rate from the viewfinder.