Apple announces iPhone 13 and 13 mini with smaller notch and redesigned cameras
- Smaller notch, A15 chip, and significant improvements to cameras
- Starts at $729 for iPhone 13 mini, $829 for iPhone 13
As per usual, it’s iPhone season, and Apple has brought out the iPhone 13, with a new camera system, A15 Bionic chip and better battery life. Just like last year, the iPhone 13 mini has a 5.4” display, and the 13 has a 6.1” display.
The TrueDepth camera module, or “the notch” is finally smaller, with a slightly narrower overall design. (No hole-punch camera or under-display camera this year!) Unfortunately, the iPhone 13 does not have Touch ID, and Face ID still appears to not work with masks.
The wide angle camera has been significantly upgraded, letting in 47% more light in the wide lens, and more detail in the ultra-wide. Just like the iPhone 12 Pro Max last year, the wide lens has been upgraded to a sensor-shift stabilization, which also applies to the iPhone 13 mini, impressive for such a small phone. The lenses have also been re-arranged in a diagonal style.
iPhone 13 now has a new addition to the modes in the camera app, Cinematic mode. While active, focus can intelligently switch between a person and the background, similar to Hollywood movies. Just like Portrait mode, the focus can be changed after shooting as well. Cinematic mode is limited to 1080p at 30 FPS, which is quite disappointing.
Storage has been bumped up to start at 128GB, up from 64. The Super Retina XDR display can now get as bright as 800 nits without being in HDR mode. Another welcome addition is the bigger battery (although in classic Apple fashion the exact capacity was not disclosed), which adds 1.5 hours more usage time to the iPhone 13 mini, and a whopping 2.5 hours for the iPhone 13.
The iPhone 13 has the A15 Bionic chip, however, the Pros have a 5-core GPU, whereas the standard models have 4. It’s unlikely to cause much of a real-world difference, but it’s something to keep in mind. As always, it’s fast, and will stay that way for years to come.
iPhone 13 mini starts at $729, and iPhone 13 starts at $829 for the base 128GB models. They come in 5 fresh colors, Pink, Blue, PRODUCT(RED), Midnight and Starlight (which appear to be simply black and white, respectively).
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