Apple’s 2021 iPhone 13 offers some solid upgrades compared to its predecessor at a reasonable price. Its slim, compact design is easy to hold, and its reliable A18 Bionic chipset still has plenty of power.
Its screen is brighter and features a smaller notch, while an updated dual-lens camera and new ‘cinematic’ video mode are welcome improvements.
Display
The iPhone 13 features a 5.42” or 6.06” (diagonal) Super AMOLED display with rounded corners that complement the phone’s beautiful curved design. The screen has a Black 0.2” high Slot cutout area from the display that holds the Face ID, front-facing camera, ambient light, proximity and other sensors. This Slot takes up 1.3% of the total Screen Area and is only visible when using the Lock screen or Touch ID.
The Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max displays Wide Colours and InfColour Contrast on its OLED screen, resulting in excellent colour accuracy. It also has very High Absolute Colour Accuracy, distinguishable from Perfect, which makes photos and other content look accurate and stunning.
It supports High Dynamic Range (HDR) Mobile, allowing mobile devices to play 4K HDR video content optimised for a Wide Colour Gamut, High Peak Brightness, and Perfect Blacks. To achieve this, it utilises a Wide Colour Gamut, High Peak Brightness, and Perfect Blacks. Its DisplayMate test results show that it can reproduce this type of content very well.
Like its predecessor, the iPhone 13 excels at managing screen reflectance in very bright Ambient Light, and it boasts a high DisplayMate Contrast Rating for high ambient light, one of the highest we have ever measured on a Smartphone. It also features a new, higher 120Hz display refresh rate that improves image quality, enhancing video performance and may help reduce Screen Flicker that some users experience.
Camera
With each new release, Apple pushes its camera to the pinnacle of image quality and user-friendliness. The iPhone 13 is no exception. It features a fast new A15 chip that delivers the power to fulfil its promise of improved low-light performance. It also features a larger sensor and a brighter lens on its primary wide-angle camera, which provides a broader angle, allowing it to capture more light than previous models.
In addition to its normal photo modes, standard 13 has a Portrait trait mode that blurs the background to make subjects stand out. This feature has long been available on Pro iPhones, but it’s now also available on the regular iPhone 13. It utilises the phone’s front camera to achieve this effect, allowing you to take selfies in Portrait mode even without a selfie stick.
Both the iPhone 13 Pro and the iPhone 13 Pro Max feature a night mode that automatically captures multiple exposures to balance shadow and highlight detail in challenging lighting conditions. This is another improvement over iPhones, which struggled to keep noise and grain under control. The iPhone 13 Pro features Cinematic mode, which allows you to record videos with a shallow depth of field effect. It records in Dolby Vision HDR and supports the professional codec ProRes, which is commonly used for short films, commercials, and broadcasts.
Battery
The iPhone 13 has a lithium-ion battery that supports multiple charge cycles. However, as the battery chemically ages, its capacity decreases, resulting in shorter periods between charges. This can cause a phone to shut down more frequently, which can affect its performance and battery health. In ios, the battery status indicator can alert you to this problem by displaying a warning when the maximum battery capacity is less than 80% of its original value.
To improve the battery life of your iPhone 13, consider disabling background app refresh or turning off Raise to Wake. You can also reduce the number of apps that have location services enabled, which can drain your phone’s battery. To the phone’s battery Settings app and navigate to Location Services. You can then choose which apps you want to use location services and when you want them to do so.
If you’re experiencing performance issues due to a degraded battery, you can replace it with a new one. This will restore your iPhone’s performance and help extend its lifespan. Apple offers several options for recycling your old batteries. This not only reduces e-waste but also protects the environment. For more information on recycling your Apple products, visit the Recycling page on the Apple website.
Performance
The iPhone 13 delivers a smooth experience that should satisfy all but the most demanding users. Upload and download speeds are high, and the processor performs impressively well under load. Battery life is also a significant improvement over previous models, and the screen is bright enough to be comfortable to use in direct sunlight.
Camera performance is another significant improvement over the previous generation. The wide-angle sensor is larger, and the camera app now offers ‘Cinematic mode,’ which adds an impressive amount of dynamic range to videos. This is also Apple’s first support for HDR video recording in Dolby Vision, enabling richer colours and deeper contrast.
Face ID security remains as good as ever, despite the new notch design, which is also smaller and less intrusive. The iPhone 13 is water-resistant to a depth of six meters for up to 30 minutes, and its IP68 rating means it should withstand the occasional accidental dunk.
The iPhone 13 has a fingerprint scanner located on the rear, alongside the dual 12-megapixel cameras. It’s a quick and reliable method of unlocking the device, and it also supports wireless charging at up to 15w. The phone also features MagSafe technology, making it easy to attach to various mounts and accessories. It’s compatible with standard Qi chargers as well, although they can only support 7.5w of power.