Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
The iPhone 13 Pro is absurdly fast , has a killer photographic camera system , the display is fantastic , and the battery life is longer than ever . We have a few nits to pluck , but Apple has made it easy to love its latest “ Pro ” iPhone .
Price When Reviewed
This value will show the geolocated pricing text edition for product undefined
Sierra Blue is a lot brighter than Pacific Blue, and just look at that huge camera bump!
Best Pricing Today
Best Prices Today: iPhone 13 Pro
[ September 2024 : The iPhone 13 Pro is no longer sell by Apple . See our round - up of theBest iPhones compared , which includes all the current model . ]
Early in the 2021 iPhone rumor lifecycle , it was reported that Apple might call this year ’s offer the iPhone 12s . Previous “ S ” model iPhones — such as the iPhone six or iPhone Xs — would more often than not keep the same pattern and feature of the premature twelvemonth ’s model , with a degraded CPU , better camera , and a individual standout new feature article .
Though Apple did n’t go with the iPhone 12s name , it may have been a fitting monicker , at least where the Pro model are concerned . The iPhone 13 Pro is fundamentally the iPhone 12 Pro with a faster processor , better camera , and one big standout feature ( ProMotion ) .
Sierra Blue is a lot brighter than Pacific Blue, and just look at that huge camera bump!
But to treat it so reductively is to do it a ill turn . The graduated table of improvement here is noteworthy , and the gap between Pro and non - Pro models is significant . This is essentially the iPhone 12 Pro with ProMotion , a unspoilt camera system , dissipated execution , and better electric battery spirit . That ’s not a surprising or particularly groundbreaking set of improvements , but it still adds up to one netherworld of a overnice iPhone .
Refined design
While the iPhone 13 Pro looks a lot like the iPhone 12 Pro at a coup d’oeil and indeed is a sort of fraternal twin , there are differences . Some are subtle , others jump right out at you .
The iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max are nearly the precise same strong-arm dimensions as the iPhone 12 Pro models they replace . These are heavy speech sound , just as their predecessor were ; a innate side - consequence of the stainless sword frame .
Not much has change when it comes to durability , not that we ’re complaining . The iPhone 13 Pro still carry IP68 water and dust resistance rating and is rated for up to 30 minutes at a depth of six meters . It ’s get the same Ceramic Shield front glass , too .
Sure the notch is smaller on the iPhone 13 Pro (right), but without changing the status bar, what’s the point?
The silver , graphite , and gold color from last year proceeds , but Pacific Blue has been replaced with Sierra Blue , a much light shade that looks prissy enough , though I favor last class ’s darker hue .
IDG / Jason Cross
While USB - C is cower its way through all of Apple ’s other products — it ’s now the only port on MacBooks , the M1 iMac , iPad Pros , the iPad Air , and iPad miniskirt — the company stillrefuses to move the iPhone line to this more oecumenical plug . If you have a caboodle of Apple gear mechanism , you have LightningandUSB - C charging cables . And for no good reason , really . Come on , Apple . It ’s time .
In bright sunlight, the brighter display of the iPhone 13 Pro (right) makes it easier to read.
talk of charging , there ’s not much new there . You still get a USB - ascorbic acid to Lightning cable’s length in the boxful but no king adapter or headphone . Charging performance is unaltered : you get up to 50 percent charge in 30 minutes with a 20W USB - C adapter . You ’ll demand a USB - C battery charger so check out our good word for thebest iPhone chargerand also thebest MagSafe charger .
Storage options still start at 128 GB , with options for 256 GB , 512 GB , and now a newfangled 1 TB selection . That ’s an obscene amount of storage for a phone and really only worthwhile if you intend you ’re going to scud alotof television ( especially in ProRes data formatting ) .
The conception changes you will notice right away are the smaller notch and much big tv camera module . The rear camera country is dramatically prominent and sticks out further , to the point where you might not actually be capable to put your earpiece onsomestands or car saddle horse without a cause that piss the photographic camera bump baby-sit flush . take note that most of Apple ’s first - party cases do not !
IDG
The notch on the front where the speaker and TrueDepth sensors reside is now 20 percentage narrow , which is nice , but the surplus screen space is going entirely to run off . You do n’t get any additional icons or information in the status Browning automatic rifle . Surely Applemustknow that everyone wants the shelling percentage back , right ?
This year , the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max have the exact same camera organisation and software features , so you do n’t have to buy the vainglorious one to get the better camera . This is the ripe approach , and we hope Apple carry on it in the future .
ProMotion finally comes to iPhone
The first thing you ’ll acknowledge when you peck up an iPhone 13 Pro is just howsmootheverything palpate . Swipes , coil , interface animation … Apple was always full at this stuff , but the responsiveness and smoothness of the iPhone 13 Pro is on another layer .
That ’s thanks to a new OLED display that is more superpower - efficient and includes ProMotion applied science like to that found on the iPad Pro . Rather than always refreshing at 60Hz , the display can go as modest as 10Hz and as high-pitched as 120Hz .
There are no setting for this ; the earphone continually align the display refresh free-base on the content on screen . Play back a 24fps movie and the display will lock to 24Hz . Read static text and it ’ll drop to 10Hz . Start scrolling and swiping around and it ’ll storm up to 120Hz .
Many apps that use stock iOS fabric for scrolling and full - screen conversion will mechanically take advantage of this , look and feeling unruffled as a result . Apps like games will require an update to take reward of ProMotion , and there are presently some limitation there that do n’t exist for iPad developers and will hopefully be lifted in succeeding package updates .
The issue of all this is that the exhibit is politic and faster when it matters most and more power efficient the rest of the time . This has an overall prescribed impact on shelling life , which we ’ll get to subsequently .
The exhibit is brighter , too : it go up to 1,000 nit in standard use , up from 800 on the iPhone 12 Pro ( the max is still 1,200 nit for HDR message ) . We ’ve had some very shiny and blistering day here in Sacramento lately and you could clearly see the difference out in direct sun . In other condition , the screen looks just like the excellent iPhone 12 Pro display .
Enthusiasts have been beg for ProMotion on the iPhone ever since it landed on the iPad Pro four yr ago . It ’s just as estimable as we ’ve always expected , and a clear differentiator between the Pro and received iPhone 13 . Now it just needs to get along to the MacBook Pro and iMac !
The fastest smartphone money can buy
The A14 found in last year ’s iPhone 12 is faster than any processor found today in any Android smartphone . No Qualcomm Snapdragon or Samsung Exynos can arrive snug tolast year’sbest micro chip from Apple .
And now the A15 is debauched . In some manner , muchfaster .
Like the A14 , the A15 is made with a 5 nm manufacture process from TSMC , and still sports two in high spirits - performance substance and four high - efficiency cores . still , in our benchmark tests , we find the A15 fork over about 8 - 10 pct firm single - sum central processor carrying into action , and 15 - 20 percent beneficial multi - core CPU performance .
The selfie camera is perfectly fine, but it hasn’t really changed since the iPhone 11.
The GPU is where things get really interesting . In the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini , the A15 still has a four - core GPU . In the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max , however , it ’s got afifthcore . That 25 percentage increase in GPU inwardness get it around 20 - 30 pct faster than the iPhone 13 , and 40 - 50 percent quicker than the iPhone 12 when it comes to 3D computer graphic and GPU compute tasks .
Put another way of life : The A15 with a four - essence GPU delivers carrying out around 10 - 15 pct in high spirits than the four - core GPU in the A14 , and the A15 with a 5th heart is 20 - 30 percentage faster than that . It really separates the iPhone 13 from the iPhone 13 Pro .
Apple has made other improvements , too . There are exponent efficiency tweak across the card , including in hooey like wireless tuner . The image signaling CPU is upgraded , as is the video encoder and decipherer ( we go for it fend for AV1 ) . The Neural Engine has 16 substance , just like that in the A14 , but it can do almost 16 trillion operations per second , up from 11 trillion .
You don’t have to inspect the iPhone 13 Pro to see how much bigger the camera array is.
Will you even comment all this speed ? For most of the things you apply your iPhone for , no . When last year ’s C.P.U. is fast than the competition and this yr ’s processor is even quicker , what do you evendowith that ? Most multitude use their speech sound for things like connection browse , email , texting , and apps that essentially scroll listing of images and textual matter ( Twitter , Instagram , Facebook ) . A ProMotion display helps with all that , but a faster central processor does n’t needs make much difference of opinion .
It will in all likelihood be a few age before the applications and iOS feature that really labour the A15 are shopworn . All this performance is as much about longevity as it is about making your life good today .
Crazy-good battery life
The case for more smartphone performance can sometimes be hard to make . Millions of people utilize phones that are two or three year one-time and think they ’re enough fast for everything they do . If they need a new headphone , they ’re more concerned with it being affordable than it being a lot quicker .
But ask anyone , anywhere , with any smartphone , if they want foresightful battery life , and the solvent is yes . Yes , of course , yes , always yes .
conceive , then , that the iPhone 13 Pro gives you both . It ’s fast enough to embarrass every other smartphone , and it lastswaylonger than previous iPhones .
To start with , Apple simply put gamey - capability battery in the entire iPhone 13 argument . While the company does n’t expose specific , regulatory filings show that the iPhone 13 Pro has a barrage with about 11 - percent more capacity than the iPhone 12 professional , and the iPhone 13 Pro Max ’s stamp battery holds around 18 - percentage more charge .
The non - Pro iPhone 13 models have larger electric battery as well , but they do n’t have the more effective LPTO OLED video display nor ProMotion , which is a battery recoverer . Just as running the showing at 120Hz eats through your barrage quicker , running itbelow60Hz will maintain it .
The consequence are phenomenal . We run our assault and battery test with the display set to a constant 200 nit while loop the Geekbench 4 battery rundown tryout , which position significant stock on the mainframe and GPU . The iPhone 13 Pro go 9 hours 15 minute , an impressive 35 percent longer than the iPhone 12 Pro . It ’s even longer than the iPhone 12 Pro Max ( 8 time of day 41 minutes ) !
My regular daily use has me just as impressed and the benchmark . At the compass point where my iPhone 12 Pro would hit 20 pct and shoot the low barrage warning , the iPhone 13 Pro often show up 40 percent or more unexpended . It ’s extremely hard to do an exact comparing of real - cosmos use , but I estimate that I ’m getting about two hours more screen door - on time .
If you ’re coming from an one-time iPhone , you ’re going to beshockedat how long the battery endure . The iPhone 13 Pro is a big step up from the iPhone 12 , but Apple has been steady marching forward with battery life for years . The iPhone 13 Pro lasts about 50 percent longer than the iPhone 11 , and double as long as the iPhone Xs introduced just three class ago .
A significantly better camera
The iPhone 13 Pro has an improved camera scheme , because of course it does . Every new iPhone does . The iPhone 13 Pro impart significant improvements to both camera hardware and software program processing .
On the computer hardware side , there are all new detector . You ’ll observe thehugecamera bump on the back , far larger than that on the iPhone 12 Pro . That ’s your first cue that thing have shift a lot .
The telephotograph camera has been increased from 2x to 3x , or an tantamount focal duration of 77 millimeter . That think the aperture constrict from f/2.0 to f/2.8 and you lose a bit of low light performance , but it ’s a smashing change overall . It means better portrayal with a nicer raw bokeh , rather than the fake bokeh of Portrait Mode on the iPhone 13 . It get you nigher to distant subject field more naturally , without farinaceous digital zoom . And that slightly worse low light execution is partially negated by the fact that you could now shoot Night Mode shots with the telephoto camera .
The “ sweet spot ” for professional portrayal picture taking is generally in the 85 - 105 mm focal length range , so this newfangled 77 mm 3x telephotograph lens get us much closer to that flattering perspective .
The received full camera , where most people do most of their shooting , now has a much larger detector . The resolving power is still 12 megapixels , but the pixel are bigger at 1.9 microns and the aperture is a blanket f/1.5 . Apple say it captures 2.2x more lightheaded , and while I ca n’t evidence to that , I ’ve noticed it does a good job with particular and color in down in the mouth light and seems to sometimes take Night Mode shots more quickly .
The Ultra - Wide camera has a wider f/1.8 aperture and performs better in low light , but the real trick is how well it focuses up close for macro shot . Move any other iPhone closer than about 4 in from your subject and it becomes a blurry wad , but the iPhone 13 Pro take macro shots with ease . The minimum focal distance for the radical - Wide photographic camera is only two centimeter , so you may push the camera right up close to that flower , bug , jewelry , or miniature .
In Photo musical mode , the camera mechanically switching to Ultra - Wide when you get up closemouthed , while trying to maintain proportional framing . Macro shots work in picture too , even slo - mo , but you have to switch to the Ultra - Wide manually .
Macro shots are n’t a specific mode , just a lifelike capableness of the Ultra - all-embracing photographic camera , so there ’s nothing to fix or enable ( though Apple says it will add an selection to manually switch it out in a next iOS 15 update ) . Just push your iPhone means up closely and get elaborated shots like never before . This is one of those things that ton of mass will make role of , all the time . It was a big limit of smartphones in general , and it requires no special knowledge or options to employ . It ’s also only on the iPhone 13 Pro models — the radical - wide camera on the veritable iPhone 13 does n’t have the super - tight focal aloofness .
For a few year now , the “ Pro ” model iPhones have been the only place to get a telephoto photographic camera and the master discriminator . But with the tighter 77 mm zoom , the larger Wide sensor , and the Ultra - all-encompassing ’s wider aperture and macro capability , the camera system on the iPhone 13 Pro even further separates it from the iPhone 13 .
Once again , the Pro model come with LiDAR and the non - Pro models do n’t . This helps AR apps perform better and supply quicker and more exact autofocus in poor kindling condition , plus enabled Portrait Mode and Night Mode at the same time . It ’s unsatisfying that Apple still has n’t done anything really telling or groundbreaking with LiDAR yet .
The front camera hasnotchanged . It ’s the same 12MP , f/2.2 selfie photographic camera you ’ll discover on the iPhone 12 . You get the unspoilt image processing , can employ Photographic Styles , and can shoot in Cinematic mode , but the computer hardware has n’t changed at all .
New photo and video tricks
Photographic Styles ? Cinematic mode ? Yes , the improved image processor in the A15 enables better trope processing ( Apple calls it Smart HDR 4 ) but the iPhone 13 has picked up a twain of unexampled software conjuring trick as well .
exploit the little down pointer in the Camera app to show adjustment controls , and you ’ll find a Modern one : Photographic Styles . Swipe to change the expressive style between Standard , Rich Contrast , Vibrant , Warm , and Cool manner . you may further customise the warmth and tone within each elan .
Apple is careful to note that this is n’t simply a filter . rather of a ceaseless change applied evenly to an entire image , the dash is part of the complex computational photography steps that farm your concluding image from multiple exposure . It ’s enforce differently to different theatrical role of the scene , so a more vibrant style might make the sky bluer , but it wo n’t make an unnatural sketch skin tone .
Just choose the one you like , tweak it you accommodate you , and it will be apply to all your images even after you close up and reopen the Camera app . I think this is a feature everyone can appreciate . If you obtain the iPhone ’s camera produces cold and sterile flannel , you’re able to warm up them up . If you like the punchier colors of Samsung ’s tv camera , you may copy that . you may create a “ default ” photographic camera experience that suit you , with termination that are more natural than a standard filter .
Cinematic mood is maybe less useful for your average iPhone drug user . It ’s a whole new picture mode that shoots at 1080p and 30 frames per second in Dolby Vision HDR , and require a decent amount of light to work ( you ’ll get a admonition if you seek to blast where it ’s too dark ) . In this mood , the iPhone 13 will use AI to key out the subject in your video recording to mechanically do “ focalize pulling . ”
You do n’t have to inspect the iPhone 13 Pro to see how much bigger the camera raiment is .
That ’s a cinematic term for changing the nidus throughout a pellet to keep a subject in focusing , or two switch focus between the foreground and background . It ’s such a vulgar proficiency in film and TV that you probably do n’t even really greet it ’s happening . Cinematic mode does this mechanically and works surprisingly well , and the metadata for the focal space is save with the telecasting so you may go back in later to align focus prey as you edit .
Currently , Cinematic mode videos have to be edit on an iPhone , but support is occur to iMovie and Final Cut Pro later this yr . And if you AirDrop the television or mail it in an iMessage or whatever , your focus options will be baked into a standard video file data format .
It ’s a fun mode to bet around with , but the deficiency of support in third - company picture redaction software program and the limited resolution and frame pace make it more of a toy than a serious tool . It ’s going to be a big hit for TikTok stars and others who create smartphone - centric telecasting designed for societal medium , but your average user is probably better off shooting regular telecasting in 4 K for now .
Both Photographic Styles and Cinematic modal value are also set up in the even iPhone 13 , but the iPhone 13 Pro does get one exclusive new television lineament : the ability to shoot directly in the ProRes video data format , after a software update later this year . ProRes is what they call an “ medium formatting ” mean for TV editing , think to preserve the best quality through the editing line at the expense of huge file cabinet size of it . It ’s not meant as a way to actually consume or distribute video , so if you ’re not a video recording editor who already do work in ProRes you should n’t concern yourself with it . ProRes will be determine to 4 K at 30fps , except on the 128 GB iPhone 13 Pro where it will be limited to 1080p .
snap photos in the ProRAW data format is still trammel to the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max , just as it was define to the iPhone 12 Pro models .
Wireless is more or less the same
If you know in the U.S. , you ’ll not notice a significant change in wireless feature or public presentation over the iPhone 12 . The iPhone 13 line now supports additional 5 1000 bands that are mostly of concern to those in other countries , and Apple says its wireless ironware is more power - effective .
But here in the U.S. , you should get similar 5 G support ( sub-6 gigacycle and mmWave ) , Wi - Fi 6 throughput ( not Wi - Fi 6E as was antecedently rumored ) , Bluetooth 5 , Ultra - Wideband , and NFC with reader fashion .
What does “Pro” even mean anymore?
I ca n’t really distinguish what Apple means by “ Pro ” these days . The Mac Pro , iMac Pro , Pro Display XDR , and MacBook Pro seem calculate at actual professionals — those who use the equipment for the employment they do and have specific performance and feature requirement . The AirPods Pro , on the other handwriting , are just the better AirPods . I do n’t think even Apple would lay claim they cede the fidelity involve for professional sound body of work .
The iPhone “ Pro ” models lie somewhere in - between . A 1 TB storage choice is definitely a Pro feature , as is the ability to shoot ProRAW picture and ProRes video . Most consumer should n’t handle about that material . On the other paw , features like the ProMotion display would be appreciated by everyone , especially since it better battery life . pro are n’t the only 1 who desire a telephoto camera , and theydefinitelyaren’t the only one who require to take macro pic .
Whatever meaning of “ Pro ” you impute to this particular Apple product , it ’s unsurprisingly the good iPhone yet and one of the best smartphones money can buy . We have nits to pick : It ’s meter for the selfie camera to get an raise , Apple need to embrace USB - C on iPhone , we still want an always - on video display mood , and that enormous camera gibbosity might cause minor issues with a few stands and backing . But a merchandise does n’t have to be flawless to be the best , and that ’s exactly what this is .
iPhone history
The iPhone 16 range and the iPhone SE 3 are the current - generation models available from Apple . In plus to a newiPhone SE 4 modelwe’re also expectingiPhone 17to launch in 2025 . Below you may witness links below to our reviews of all iPhone models , including the latest generation . get word more about all thenew Apple products coming this yearandwhen is the next Apple case . You might also require to check out our advice onwhen is the best sentence to buy a new iPhone , ouriPhone purchasing usher , and ourcomparison of every iPhone that is available to buy today .
