Last night at its special event, Apple announced the latest iPhone 13 series. Both the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro models come with some significant upgrades, though the design hasn’t changed much. Here we are talking about the iPhone 13 Duo, which is starting from Rs 69,999 just like last year. On the other hand, like every year, Apple has cut down the prices of the previous iPhone 12 series. So should you go for the iPhone 13 series or settle with the previous year’s models? Let us know some reasons to buy or not to buy the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini.
iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini Reasons to Buy
Let’s start with the reasons to buy iPhone 13 series. If we talk about the upgrades of the iPhone 13, the most important one is Apple’s new A15 Bionic chipset. Apart from this, there are also improvements in the camera, the display is brighter than before, the battery life is better, and yes, most importantly, as mentioned earlier, these start at the same price, but with another surprise. Let us know all the details.
Powerful A15 Bionic Chipset
The main upgrade in the new iPhone is the all-new Apple A15 bionic processor. Apple says it is the fastest chipset in any current smartphone, except iPhone 13 Pro series because the GPU on iPhone 13 and 13 mini has 4‑cores, instead of the five in their Pro siblings. Still, the CPU is 50%, and its GPU is up to 30% faster than the competition.
The 5nm Chip with 64-bit architecture has nearly 15 billion transistors and a 6-core CPU with two performance and four efficiency cores. It has a new 16-core faster Neural Engine capable of 15.8 trillion operations per second.
Improved New Camera Sensors
The iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini also come with a 12MP dual-camera setup on the back. However, this time the main 12MP sensor has a 1.7µm pixel size and 26mm f/1.6 lens. Apple says it is the biggest sensor ever in an iPhone dual-camera system. Also, it is capable of capturing 47% more light with less noise.
The 12MP main camera is the same as the one on iPhone 12 Pro Max and it also comes with 12 Pro Max’s sensor-shift OIS — a tech that stabilizes the sensor instead of the lens.
The 12MP ultrawide camera also gets a new sensor as well and captures images with more detail in the dark. However, it doesn’t get autofocus like the iPhone 13 Pro models. There is a Cinematic mode with automatic focus changes, that can record in HDR Dolby Vision.
On the front, there is a similar 12MP TrueDepth selfie camera, just like iPhone 12 series. It also supports HDR video recording with Dolby Vision for 4K up to 60 fps.
Better Battery Life
Apple has increased the battery size on the iPhone 13 and the mini. These get bigger batteries than their predecessors, but just like every year, Apple didn’t reveal the numbers as of now. It promises up to 2.5 hours and 1.5 hours of extra battery life for the iPhone 13 models respectively, compared to the iPhone 12 models.
Apple has also improved its power efficiency with the iPhone 13 series. These now come with support for switching from 5G to LTE when higher speeds are not required.
More 5G Bands
The customized design in the iPhone 13 series houses more 5G bands than last year. So the new iPhones will work in more places and on more 5G network carriers for better coverage and performance. Apple promises that by the end of this year, iPhone 5G coverage will double around the globe, with over 200 carriers worldwide in 60 countries.
Similar Launch Price (More Base Storage)
The new iPhones start at the same price as the last year. However, this time these come with an entry-level capacity of 128GB instead of 64 GB. So for double the storage, you will have to spend the same. There are 256GB and 512GB capacities as well.
If we talk about prices, iPhone 13 Mini starts at Rs. 69,900 in India ($699 in the US), while the regular iPhone 13 starts at Rs. 79,900 ($799 in the US). Check all models’ prices here:
- iPhone 13 Mini 128GB – Rs. 69,900 ($699)
- iPhone 13 Mini 256GB – Rs. 79,900 ($799)
- iPhone 13 Mini 512GB – Rs. 99,900 ($999)
- iPhone 13 128GB – Rs. 79,900 ($799)
- iPhone 13 256GB – Rs. 89,900 ($899)
- iPhone 13 512GB – Rs. 1,09,900 ($1099).
iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini Reasons Not to Buy
Now it comes to the reasons not to buy. If you are thinking of an upgrade, then you already know what the improvements are, however, there are some areas that have not changed as there is no significant change in the design. Apart from this, the display refresh rate is still 60Hz while their older siblings have got 120Hz and Apple once again won’t get any accessories in the box, apart from the cable.
No Significant Design Change
The design of the iPhone 13 and 13 Mini hasn’t changed much since last year. The new iPhones still come with a metal body with flat edges and rounded corners. There is Gorilla Glass on the front and back and the phones are again IP68-rated. However, this time the notch at the front has gotten smaller by 20%.
Also, with the increase in battery life, there is a slight weight gain with tipping the scale at 174 grams for iPhone 13 and 141 grams for the Mini. The new models are also a bit thicker than the iPhone 12 models, however, other dimensions remain unchanged.
The iPhone 13 mini dimensions are 131.5×64.2×7.65mm, while the iPhone 13 measures 146.7×71.5×7.65mm. The iPhone 13 duo comes in Pink, Blue, Midnight, Starlight, and (PRODUCT) RED color options. So, you can see there is no significant change in design.
Similar 60Hz Display
One thing that is missing on the iPhone 13 and the mini is the high refresh rate. As the vanilla versions are stuck with a 60Hz panel, their Pro siblings now sport a 120Hz display.
The size and other features of this Super Retina XDR panel also remain unchanged. The Mini gets 5.4 inches screen and the iPhone 13 has 6.1 inches panel.
However, there is another improvement this time around apart from the smaller notch and that is- the new screens are 28% brighter than the last year. They can reach up to 800 nits of max brightness. Other features like 1200 nits of peak HDR brightness, HDR, Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG standards remain the same.
No Accessories in Box
You might be already aware of the fact that Apple has stopped including any accessories inside the box with iPhone 12 series. So, once again there will be no charging bricks and no other accessory than the Type C to Lightning cable inside the box.
So, if you will have to buy a 20W USB C adapter separately for Rs. 1,900 if you don’t already have one. The MagSafe wireless charger comes at Rs. 4,500.
No Touch ID
Time and again, users expect the return of Touch ID with the new iPhones. But Apple once more ignored this and didn’t provide the TouchID with iPhone 13 series. The new iPhones come with FaceID, which after facing some issues in terms of security and accuracy, has now improved.
Wrapping Up
So you have noticed that there are some significant improvements in the iPhone 13 series. However, for those who have been using iPhone 11 or later, these improvements won’t matter that much. Still, the new powerful A15 Bionic chipset and more storage at a similar price point are a good sign. Apart from this, there are new camera sensors, however, we’ll be able to tell you the camera improvements only after using it.
Overall, if you’ve been using an older iPhone then you can go for these. Otherwise, if you want to save some money then you can still buy iPhone 12 if the latest chipset and the new camera sensors are not too important for you.
The new iPhone 13 and 13 Mini will be available through Apple’s authorized retails stores in India starting from September 24. The pre-orders are starting from Friday, September 17 at 5:30 PM.
You can also follow us for instant tech news at Google News or for tips and tricks, smartphones & gadgets reviews, join GadgetsToUse Telegram Group or for the latest review videos subscribe GadgetsToUse Youtube Channel.
