Apple iPhone 13 Line-up Is All About the Camera…and Finally, A Better Screen!

By Ana Dascalescu

Posted on September 15, 2021

After a year of speculation, the wait is over: the official iPhone 13 line-up announcement spilled all the deets and confirmed most of the rumors and leaks.

Apple announced the iPhone 13 family, powered by the new A15 Bionic chipset, with the iPhone 13 Pro and the iPhone 13 Pro Max finally getting 120Hz screens, like most higher-end Android handsets.

iPhone 13 Lineup

At first glance it’s difficult to see what’s different on iPhone 13 compared to the iPhone 12, but look closer and you’ll see a more discrete notch. 

Try the phone and you’ll notice a screen smoother than ever, with an adaptive 120Hz frame rate.

Under the hood, the lineup is powered by possibly the most powerful phone chipset today. That would usually account for even worse battery performance but Apple did announce improvements on this front as well.

The all-day battery life promised since last gen is now finally here, with the iPhone 13 Pro having a 3095 mAh battery which promises 1.5 more hours than the iPhone 12 Pro.

“iPhone 13 Pro will last up to one and a half hours longer in a day than iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 13 Pro Max will last up to two and a half hours longer in a day than iPhone 12 Pro Max,” says Apple.

The line-up starts at 128 GB storage and goes up to 1 TB.

Why You Should Go For the iPhone 13 Mini

As usual though, all eyes were on the iPhone 13 camera. Here, there’s both hardware and software improvements.

iPhone 13 Camera

The iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini have a dual-lens system made of a f/1.6 aperture wide lens that lets in 47 more light and an ultra wide f/2.4 aperture lens, also for better low light performance.

Since there’s no telephoto lens in iPhone 13 and the 13 mini, you’ll have 2X optical zoom and up to 5X digital zoom.

For more, you’ll have to look at the iPhone 13 Pro and the iPhone 13 Pro Max, which also come with LiDAR Scanner.

Compared to the iPhone 12 Pro Max, the iPhone 13 Pro Max increases the optical zoom from 2.5x to 3x. Paired with the Ultra Wide lens, you have 6x optical zoom range and 15x digital zoom.

Both phones have a three sensor setup pairing the f/2.8 Telephoto lens, with an f/1.5 Wide lens, and an f/1.8 Ultra Wide lens.

According to Apple, both the Wide lens and the Ultra Wide lens capture a lot more light, so the overall low light performance for the camera is improved significantly.

iPhone 13 Camera Upgrades

That’s all on the hardware side but the major game changers sit on the software side.

Apple sent a love note to cinematographers everywhere by adding Cinematic Mode in iPhone 13, which lets you shift the focus from one subject to another seamlessly, both while shooting the video and afterwards.

Then, there’s Smart HDR 4 to recognize up to four people in a scene to automatically adjust lighting, contrast and skin tone.

Speaking of skin tone, it will now be easier to make everyone look their best with Photographic Styles. Unlike filters which go over the entire image, Photographic Styles can enhance or mute colors selectively, without affecting skin tone.

Why you should go for iPhone 13 Pro or Pro Max

While the regular iPhone 13 or the 13 mini are tempting, if you’re a photography fan there are some perks exclusive to the more expensive models.

Thanks to the ultra wide camera on them, you can focus on 2 cm to take even better macro photos. 

The Telephoto lens also has, for the first time, Night Mode and Night Mode portraits, which use the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max exclusive LiDAR Scanner.

Both phones also let you record and edit in ProRes or Dolby Vision like the pros.

Overall, the iPhone 13 lineup is unquestionably a design refinement, not a true revolutionary device, but that’s to be expected based on the leaks so far. 

As for the pricing, there are no surprises here as well – and it’s clear Apple is taking big steps to differentiate the mini lineup from the Pro models.

iPhone 13 Prices: Mini, 13, 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max

• iPhone 13 mini 128 GB: $699
• iPhone 13 mini 256 GB: $799
• iPhone 13 mini 512 GB: $999
• iPhone 13 128 GB: $799
• iPhone 13 256 GB: $899
• iPhone 13 512 GB: $1099
• iPhone 13 Pro 128 GB: $999
• iPhone 13 Pro 256 GB: $1099
• iPhone 13 Pro 512 GB: $1299
• iPhone 13 Pro 1 TB: $1499
• iPhone 13 Pro Max 128 GB: $1099
• iPhone 13 Pro Max 256 GB: $1199
• iPhone 13 Pro Max 512 GB: $1399
• iPhone 13 Pro Max 1 TB: $1599

So, are these enhancements enough to make you upgrade?

Apple iPhone 13 Line-up Is All About the Camera…and Finally, A Better Screen!