iPhone 13 Pro Review, Price, Specs, Camera, Battery
iPhone 13 Pro is the best camera phone and best 5G phone
The iPhone 13 Pro is one of the most powerful phones ever. Despite the big camera hump and lack of Touch ID, the latest iPhone is a beast, with a great display and excellent cameras. It's also $100 cheaper than the equally impressive iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Pros
- Amazing Performance
- Vastly improved battery life
- Spectacular cameras
- Incredible performance
- Gorgeous and bright 120Hz display
Cons
- 4K ProRes video limited to 256GB and above
- Fast charging limited to 20W
- No mask-friendly face authentication
I've seen a lot of phones in my career, but the iPhone 13 Pro is the best phone I've ever reviewed. Apple's latest handset raises the bar so high that it's hard to find any real flaws with the iPhone 13 Pro, except perhaps the lack of Touch ID and charging speeds still maxing out at 20W.
But consider what the iPhone 13 Pro brings. From the exquisite and bright 120Hz OLED display to the A15 Bionic's crushing performance, it's a powerful device. If you're a fan of thin phones, this is about as good as it gets for a phone with a 6.1-inch screen. The best part is that there is no feature disparity between this model and the iPhone 13 Pro Max. Both phones have similar telephoto zoom capabilities and all four iPhone 13 models have sensor-shifted optical image stabilization. You are not missing anything by choosing the cheaper and smaller iPhone 13 Pro.
In this iPhone 13 Pro review, I'll tell you why it's one of the best phones you can buy – it's the best one if you want a smaller screen.
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| iPhone 13 Pro Full Specification | |
|---|---|
| Price | Check New |
| Display | 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED (2352 x 1170) |
| Refresh rate | 10-120Hz |
| CPU | Check New |
| RAM | Check New |
| Rear cameras | Check New |
| Front camera | Check New |
| Video | Up to 4K 60 fps, 4K 30 fps ProRes (256GB+), 1080p 30 fps ProRes (128GB), 1080p 30 fps (Cinematic Mode) |
| Battery life (hrs: min) | Check New |
| Charging | 20W wired, 15W MagSafe |
| Size | 5.8 x 2.8 x 0.3 inches |
| Weight | 7.19 ounces |
iPhone 13 Pro Price and release date
- iPhone 13 Pro Price: $999
From there, the 256GB version costs $1,099, while the 512GB sets you back $1,299. For the first time ever, Apple offers a 1TB iPhone 13 Pro that costs $1,499—as much as a 13-inch MacBook Pro with an M1 chip and a 512GB hard drive.
The 128GB iPhone 13 Pro starts at £949 in the UK, ramping up to £1,049 for the 265GB model and £1,249 for the 512GB version. If you have deep pockets, the 1TB iPhone 13 Pro will cost £1,449.
iPhone 13 Pro Design
The iPhone 13 Pro looks remarkably similar to the iPhone 12 Pro except for two major differences: the larger camera hump and the smaller notch. The former is very clear. The lenses and the square around them stick out quite clearly – the phone is far from flat when lying on a table or desk.
However, the small notch is noticeable. Apple says it's about 20% smaller than the one we're used to. In practice, you can tell the difference when you hold the new phone next to the iPhone 12 Pro.
The small notch is definitely a step in the right direction, although I still find it unsightly. Since Apple goes all-in on Face ID, the notch is here to stay for now — the under-display TrueDepth technology is probably still kind of off.
On that note, one serious omission in the iPhone 13 Pro is Touch ID. Rumors suggested that Apple was testing the in-display fingerprint technology you find on many of the best Android phones. In a world where the COVID-19 pandemic is still rampant and many of us are encouraged to wear masks, I think Apple's failure to offer Face ID's unlock option remains a problem. The Apple Watch workaround introduced earlier this year with iOS 14.5 isn't good enough.
A stainless steel frame gives the iPhone 13 Pro a serious look. It feels heavier, more solid, compared to the 7.19 ounces Apple lists as the weight of the phone. While my time with the phone has been brief so far, I did feel wrist and pinky fatigue while using it, more than the iPhone 12 Pro I use as a daily driver.
Because the design of the iPhone 13 Pro remains largely unchanged, it feels like an iterative upgrade over its predecessor rather than pushing the boundaries. I think Apple played it safe this year instead of focusing on display and camera enhancements.
iPhone 13 Pro Display
- iPhone 13 Pro Display: 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED (2352 x 1170)
With an OLED panel of the same size as its predecessor, the iPhone 13 Pro packs a lot of pixels into a screen that measures 6.1 inches diagonally. Apple calls it the latest version of its Super Retina XDR technology, and it sure is beautiful. Colors pop, there's lots of contrast, and viewing angles are stellar.
Whether I was playing the anime-inspired, saturated Genshin Impact or staring at the harsh orange scenes in the latter part of Blade Runner 2049, the iPhone 13 Pro's display delivered in every sense. Even vibrant cyberpunk or retrowave images looked stunning with their bright neon pinks, magenta, and purples.
The iPhone 13 managed the same color saturation as its predecessor, and its Delta-E color accuracy score (where 0 is perfect) was nearly identical to the iPhone 12 Pros. But note the maximum brightness we measured in our lab: 1,024 nits is exceedingly bright.
Of course, the star this year is the 120Hz promotion refresh rate on both the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max. The promotion experience is good. The iPhone 13 Pro's display can automatically jump between 10Hz and 120Hz, providing a seamless experience that adapts not only to the content on the screen but also how fast your finger swipes across the glass.
Once you get past the 120Hz display, it's hard to go back to the 60Hz display. The same is the case for the iPhone 13 Pro, which has a much smoother screen than the 12 Pro. Plus, I strongly prefer the promotion display. Not only is it easy to read text on a web page while scrolling, but the crisp animations for jumping between emails in Gmail or unlocking the phone offer an extremely premium experience.
Some third-party apps are experiencing problems with Promotion, with the display either locking up at 60Hz or jumping between 60Hz and 120Hz, but Apple says a fix will come soon in a software update.
It's not something I've experienced, though, and while I wouldn't say the iPhone 13 Pro has the best performance on the market, it's definitely much, much better, and more competitive, thanks to the promotions now.
iPhone 13 Pro Cameras
- Rear cameras: 12MP (f/1.5) main, 12MP (f/1.8) ultrawide, 12MP (f/2.8) telephoto with 3x optical zoom
- Front camera: 12MP (f/2.2)
The iPhone 13 Pro is equipped with three 12MP rear cameras, including a 77mm focal length and a telephoto lens offering 3x optical zoom. The main shooter has a bigger sensor and wider aperture this year at f/1.5, so it can let in more light than before.
The 12MP 120-degree ultrawide also got a bigger sensor, as well as autofocus for sharp super-wide-angle shots. It's in low light where the new phone shines, especially over its predecessor and competition.
iPhone 13 Pro Performance
- CPU: A15 Bionic
New with the iPhone 13 series is the A15 Bionic system-on-chip. It has a six-core CPU and a 5-core GPU on the Pro model, as well as an advanced Neural Engine. (iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini work with quad-core GPU). Paired with 6GB of RAM, the iPhone 13 Pro is a real powerhouse, ahead of the best Androids. The A15 crushes the Snapdragon 888 and further proves the quality of Apple's clever hand with silicon.
The graphical prowess of the iPhone 13 Pro should not be underestimated. The GPU in the A15 Bionic is powerful, with Apple claiming it is 50% faster than the competition (presumably the Snapdragon 888 and it's Adreno 660 GPU). Real-world gaming performance is difficult to measure because iOS doesn't let you track framerates in games, but more intense titles like Genshin Impact and Asphalt 9 look great on the iPhone 13 Pro.
I included the iPhone 12 Pro in this comparison so you can see the generational improvements from last year. Not only is the A15 Bionic an improvement over the A14, but it is also several times ahead of the Snapdragon 888 in the Galaxy S21 Plus. Nothing in Android land can hold a candle to the A15, even if synthetic benchmarks don't quite match up to real life.
Using Adobe Premiere Rush, we try to get a sense of real-world performance by transcoding a 4K video file to 1080p. The iPhone 12 Pro can already finish the test in 27 seconds, while the Galaxy S21 Plus falls far behind in a flat minute. The iPhone 13 Pro managed to transcode in just 26 seconds. It's not a huge jump over the A14-equipped iPhone 12 Pro, but it does extend Apple's lead over Qualcomm.
3DMark's Wild Life is a graphics benchmark, and I've included the original and extreme test results. The Extreme Unlimited Benchmark brings any phone to its knees, even the iPhone 13 Pro. But the average framerate in the original Wild Life Unlimited test represents a massive increase over the A14 and a big step up from the Galaxy S21 Plus.
All this to say, the iPhone 13 Pro is the most powerful phone you can get right now (along with its bigger brother, the iPhone 13 Pro Max). Android and its multitude of devices certainly have their strengths, but Apple's chips have a hard time keeping up with the hardware that supports the ecosystem.
Check out our iPhone 13 benchmarks page to see how the iPhone 13 Pro and the all-new iPhone compare to each other and the Android phone competition.
Apple upgraded its phones' 5G capabilities this year, following what it did with the iPhone 12 series. The iPhone 13 Pro has more 5G bands this time around, which means it could work in more locations and on more carriers. Smart data mode returns, switching your phone to LTE when 5G isn't needed (and theoretically saving battery life).
We're still in the early days of 5G and, thanks to a few rollout issues, it's not always a better experience wherever you go. But it is a carrier problem. Rest assured that the iPhone 13 Pro has the hardware chops to handle future network improvements.
iPhone 13 Pro Battery life and charging
- Battery life (hrs: min): 11:42
- Charging: 20W wired, 15W MagSafe
We do not know about the battery capacity of the iPhone 13 Pro as Apple does not disclose that information. Teardowns will fill in that information, but we know from Apple that this year's iPhones have bigger batteries.
To that end, Apple says the iPhone 13 Pro lasts 1.5 hours longer than the iPhone 12 Pro. Apple is generally fairly conservative in its battery life estimates, so I was excited to see how the new phone would perform in the Provix battery test, where we put a phone to endlessly reloading web pages over a cellular connection. Force it until it dies.
The bigger battery in the iPhone 13 Pro definitely pays off, boosting the phone's longevity to around 3 hours longer than its predecessor and 2 hours longer than the Galaxy S21 Plus, to 11 hours and 42 minutes. For reference, the previous iPhone hit 9 hours and 6 minutes while the Galaxy S21 Plus managed 9 hours and 41 minutes.
That's a huge advantage for those looking to upgrade, considering that the iPhone 13 Pro also landed on our best phone battery life list with an adaptive display and power-hungry 5G connectivity. It's certainly impressive to see such a jump on the iPhone 12 Pro's short battery life - even the Galaxy S21 Plus can't compare.
Visit our iPhone 13 battery life results page to see how the iPhone 13 Pro compares to other new iPhones and the best Android phones.
Unfortunately, Apple hasn't figured out how to incorporate fast charging into this phone. The iPhone 13 Pro maxes out 20W wired and 15W via MagSafe. In a world where the OnePlus 9 Pro can charge at 65W over a cable or 50W wirelessly – or where Xiaomi's got 120W – Apple's modest offering is just disappointing. The iPhone 12 Pro only hit 53% in 30 minutes in our testing.
The iPhone 13 Pro still uses a Lightning connector instead of USB-C, which is also used by newer iPads. There's also no charger in the box, continuing a trend Apple started with the iPhone 12 release.
iPhone 13 Pro Software and iOS 15
iPhone 13 Pro comes with iOS 15. We've covered the latest version of Apple's mobile OS quite extensively since we got our hands on the beta over the summer. Some of the features worth noting are changes to notifications, live text/visual look-up, focus, FaceTime enhancements, and improvements to several core apps. I encourage you to check out our comprehensive coverage of the update, which also includes our iOS 15 review.
I couldn't find any iPhone 13-specific software features (other than the camera and video stuff I mentioned earlier), but I think iOS 15 is best experienced on the iPhone 13 Pro because of the Promotion Display and A15 Bionic chip. That's usually the case - the latest hardware best runs the latest software version and shows everything it has to offer.
If you have an Apple Watch, we suggest that if you're going to buy an iPhone 13 Pro right away, proceed with caution, as there appears to be a caveat on the software side that doesn't require unlocking the iPhone 13 model. I am having a problem. Apple Watch. However, this problem does not affect every single user and Apple has officially acknowledged the problem and said that a fix is coming soon.
iPhone 13 Pro Known Problems
As is often the case with the release of a new phone, iPhone 13 owners have already faced some problems. For example, some iPhone 13 users are finding that the phone won't unlock with the Apple Watch, although a fix is on the way. There are also issues with the touch display reportedly not being responsive enough in some cases, although this could be an iOS 15 issue rather than an iPhone 13.
As for the iPhone 13 Pros, there are complaints that the cameras are automatically switching between lenses without warning; An update that will enable users to turn it off is said to be made. Also, the Promotion display on the iPhone 13 Pro is not working at 120Hz with some apps, which Apple will address in an update. And developers need to optimize their apps as well.
See our iPhone 13 problems roundup for more details.
iPhone 13 Pro Verdict
The iPhone 13 Pro and its big brother are the best phones you can buy right now. This smaller Pro model is better suited for those who avoid larger phones. Battery life has improved significantly compared to previous iPhone models, which is a serious point in favor of this device. And Apple has proven its prowess with the cameras, with the iPhone 13 Pro producing some beautiful pictures and videos.
However, I have two gripes with this phone. I want to see faster charging, but more importantly, I want to see Touch ID this year. Despite the annoyance of manually unlocking the iPhone 13 Pro, and using Apple Pay a second time, however, the iPhone 13 Pro has everything else going for it.
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