The new iPhone 13 series has just been launched, and many of the rumors ahead of launch turn out to be correct. Just like the leaked images showed, the biggest design change is the placement of the cameras on the back in addition to a slightly smaller notch on the front. The iPhone Mini line is also kept alive, and there are new colors having been added to the Apple family.
A15
This six-core processor is said to be the fastest in any mobile phone, and there really is nothing in the world that can measure up to this processor; Apple said about the A15 chip during the launch. The whole iPhone 13 series will be equipped with this powerful mobile chip. I have personally been somewhat underwhelmed by the performance of just this chip, but I am still impressed by the fact Apple decided to put it into the iPad Pro 2021.
The ProMotion screen – 120hz refresh rate
At last, the ProMotion screens have come to the iPhone as well. That means a 120hz refresh rate and far more comfortable viewing of content. The screen is also able to go down to 30 hertz. Android phones costing as little as $499 have featured the same for a long time – and now, in 2021, it’s finally reached Apple and their expensive line of phones. To be fair to them, they’ve had the technology included in the iPad Pro for the last few years, but it’s taken forever to reach their phones.
Unlike their big brothers iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max, the iPhone 13 and 13 mini will still not feature a high refresh rate. If you have used the iPad Pro series and switched to an older screen with 60hz, like the iPad Air4/Mini6, you start noticing obvious frame drop shadows visible to the naked eye (I’ve still not gotten used to it).
Starts at 128 GB
The storage space starts at 128 GB. Relatively reasonable given how much more people use video features on their phones these days, and with games taking up a ton of storage space. However, a version of the regular iPhone 13 with 1 TB of storage did not arrive – for the regular model, the maximum size is 512GB.
iOS 15
All four new iPhone models will come with the new iOS 15, with a number of new privacy features and content sharing solutions and FaceTime included.
Better battery life
Mini will have a much longer battery life – up to 1.5 hours longer. I am sure it will not be long-lasting, but the phone sadly still doesn’t support dual sim cards. I guess Apple prioritizes the battery life over dual sims, which might disappoint those of us who have gotten used to the convenience. On a regular iPhone 13, the battery life is 2.5 hours longer than before. Apple says it is due to more efficient components as well as a larger battery.
Brighter new screen
The new screen is said to be using less power while being quite bright, with a top brightness of 1200 nits. We all know how good Apple is when it comes to screen tuning, so I am pretty sure that the new screen will be good.
Better images in darkness
The sensor-shift image stabilization system has been included on the cheapest iPhones. Last year, only the iPhone 12 Pro Max had a sensor-shift. The entire image chip moves instead of the glass inside the lens, the latter being how traditional stabilization works. This will bring better images in dark environments and room for more movement without the image becoming blurred. This feature was previously only available in a few system cameras.
“Rack focus” allows you to focus in and out of foreground and background quickly during filming. It also allows you to easily display different parts of what you are pointing the camera at. The function is part of a separate “Cinematic mode”, and seems quite easy to use, and it is similar to Sony’s ZV-1 objects displaying function. Vloggers will be very happy to use this for their content creation.
