iPhone 13 evaluation | Tom’s Information
It is over three years outdated (type of historic in smartphone phrases), however the iPhone 13’s nonetheless going sturdy, and might be price selecting up new even at this time.
The iPhone 16’s Apple’s latest equal, and the iPhone 15 and iPhone 14 stay simply attainable at barely discounted costs. However that should not detract frrom the iPhone 13’s efficiency and digital camera high quality, which stay aggressive even at this time.
The iPhone 13 has some flaws. The charging remains to be comparatively gradual in comparison with some Android telephones. And I do not like that solely the Professional iPhone fashions get a 120Hz show and telephoto zoom. However primarily based on my in-depth iPhone 13 evaluation, this iPhone stays a robust possibility for the cash.
iPhone 13 evaluation: Value and storage
The iPhone 13 was final seen at $599 for a 128GB mannequin on the Apple Retailer, nevertheless it’s now been dropped. It’s going to nonetheless be accessible each model new and refurbished from third-part retailers although, so maintain that worth in thoughts as you go looking for gives.
When new, the iPhone 13 price $799, the identical worth because the iPhone 16 prices at this time. So in case your price range has extra room in it, you are possible higher off deciding on a more moderen mannequin if you happen to’re aiming to improve.
iPhone 13 specs: All fashions in contrast
| Row 0 – Cell 0 | iPhone 13 mini | iPhone 13 |
| Beginning worth | $599 | $699 |
| Storage | 128, 256, 512GB | 128, 256, 512 GB |
| Display screen measurement | 5.4 inches | 6.1 inches |
| Decision/ppi | 2340 x 1080/476 | 2532 x 1170/460 |
| Adaptive refresh | No | No |
| Processor | A15 Bionic | A15 Bionic |
| Rear cameras | Twin 12MP (Vast, ultrawide) | Twin 12MP (Vast, ultrawide) |
| Zoom | None / 5x digital | None / 5x digital |
| Entrance digital camera | 12MP TrueDepth | 12MP TrueDepth |
| Colours | Purple, Starlight, Midnight, Blue, Pink | Purple, Starlight, Midnight, Blue, Pink, Inexperienced |
| Dimension | 5.2 x 2.5 x 0.3 inches | 5.8 x 2.8 x 0.3 inches |
| Weight | 4.97 ounces | 6.14 ounces |
| Water resistance | IP68 | IP68 |
| Battery life (video playback | 8:41 | 10:33 |
iPhone 13 evaluation: Design and colours
- Smaller notch makes show a bit extra immersive
- Barely completely different button placement
- Pink and blue are standout colours
- New Inexperienced coloration launched March 2022
There’s actually two design modifications of word for the iPhone 13. First, the cameras on the rear are actually organized diagonally as an alternative of vertically just like the iPhone 12 (though the iPhone 16 has since modified this again).
Second — and extra importantly — the notch is now 20% smaller whereas nonetheless delivering the identical nice TrueDepth digital camera system and Face ID you’d count on for the reason that iPhone X launched it. It is nonetheless extra obnoxious than the Dynamic Island cutout that the iPhone 14 Professional and newer iPhones use although.
Actually, the smaller notch doesn’t make a lot of a distinction in day-to-day use of the iPhone 13. When watching movies in panorama mode aspect by aspect at full-screen, I didn’t discover both notch that distracting.
I did respect the mini notch extra when utilizing apps with a white background in portrait orientation, corresponding to Gmail. Nonetheless, the notch on the iPhone 13 swoops down a bit extra regardless of being narrower.
The button placement is barely completely different on the iPhone 13 versus the iPhone 12. The ability button is decrease on the suitable aspect, and the identical factor goes with the ringer change and quantity buttons on the left aspect.
In any other case, the iPhone 13 gives the identical robust CeramicShield show up entrance, sturdy glass again and flat edges. And also you get the identical IP68 water resistance as earlier than. Sadly, the iPhone 13 doesn’t provide Contact ID, an improve many people would have appreciated since Face ID doesn’t work effectively with masks. I didn’t want a sensor within the show like many Android telephones now help; a Contact ID sensor embedded within the energy button like on the iPad mini 6 would have been positive.
For now, it seems the iPhone 13 is having an issue unlocking with the Apple Watch in some instances. Apple has acknowledged the difficulty and says a repair is coming quickly.
The iPhone 13 is available in six colours, together with Pink, Blue, Midnight, Starlight and (Product) Purple. I examined the blue mannequin, which is a enjoyable shade with out being too loud. And I proceed to understand the color-matched aluminum body Apple contains with its entry-level iPhones. Apple additionally launched contemporary iPhone 13 colours in the course of the Apple Occasion in March 2022, together with a brand new inexperienced iPhone 13.
One factor to notice, because of Apple’s new iPhone Self Service Restore kits, now you can perform your individual repairs, however proceed with warning right here as you will want some technical expertise.
iPhone 13 evaluation: Show
- Brighter show simpler to learn in direct daylight
- Stellar colours and distinction
Alas, the iPhone 13 doesn’t boast the adaptive 120Hz refresh charge of the iPhone 13 Professional, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a stellar OLED panel. This Tremendous Retina XDR show is now 28% brighter than the iPhone 12; it’s additionally rated at 800 nits, in comparison with 600 nits for final 12 months’s cellphone.
In my testing, I wouldn’t say the brightness distinction is dramatic, however it might probably assist once you’re attempting to view the iPhone 13’s show in direct daylight.
The general show high quality continues to be stellar. When watching the trailer for The Matrix Resurrections, I used to be mesmerized by the neon code encircling Neo as he walked down the road, and in one other scene I might make out particular person hairs on Neo’s beard as he stared up into the solar.
On our lab checks, the iPhone 13 averaged 795 nits of brightness, in comparison with 569 nits for the iPhone 12 and 702 nits for the Galaxy S21. The iPhone 13 additionally registered 78.1% of the DCI-P3 coloration gamut and 110.2% of the sRGG coloration gamut, the place greater numbers are higher. The iPhone 12 hit 81.1 and 114.5 and the Galaxy S21 77.4 and 109.2.
The iPhone 13 panel’s coloration accuracy is stellar, too, because it achieved a Delta-E rating of 0.26 (decrease is healthier.) That compares to 0.29 for each the Galaxy S21 and iPhone 12.
iPhone 13 evaluation: Cameras
- Vibrant and colourful photographs beat Samsung
- Extremely-wide digital camera delivers extra scene and improved Night time mode
- Photographic types provide you with inventive management
There’s rather more to the iPhone 13 cameras than only a new diagonal association of the lenses. The broad digital camera now gathers 47% extra mild than the iPhone 12, because of a bigger digital camera with 1.7μm pixels.
One other plus is that the ultrawide digital camera can now seize 4 occasions extra scene and its newer sensor delivers higher low-light efficiency together with much less noise.
When you’re not a fan of the iPhone’s ordinary coloration temperature — otherwise you simply needed extra management over your pictures — you’ll respect the Photographic Kinds characteristic. Within the Digicam app, you may change from a number of types, together with normal, vibrant, wealthy distinction, heat and funky.
I attempted out the characteristic with a collection of portraits, and I appreciated the distinction between types. For instance, the wealthy distinction mode made the shot look much less hazy, whereas the colourful setting made the coleus crops pop extra together with the tree within the background. It’s not that simple to change this impact on the fly, as it’s important to faucet a setting after which choose the model you need, however I like that you could customise your individual types.
On this photograph taken on the Manasquan reservoir in New Jersey, you may see how superior the iPhone 13’s digital camera is in comparison with the Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely. The water seems extra vibrant and translucent, and the iPhone 13 does a greater job rendering the shadows across the wooden.
The iPhone 13 additionally delivered a greater trying shot of those Halloween decorations. The orange pumpkin signal seems extra vibrant and brighter, as do the encircling real-life pumpkins. The Galaxy S21 Extremely’s pic is lots sharp however seems a bit flat.
In lots of taking pictures conditions, the iPhone 13 was on par with the iPhone 12, however I did discover a marked enchancment in Night time mode. Whereas the result’s a bit on the fuzzy aspect, the iPhone 13 captures a brighter pink within the hydrangea flowers and the encircling leaves are brighter.
Now that the iPhone 14 is right here, you may as well take a look at our iPhone 14 vs iPhone 13 detailed digital camera face-off.
When you’re seeking to get extra out of your iPhone digital camera, see the one iPhone digital camera tip everybody must know and likewise take a look at the hidden iPhone digital camera characteristic for taking your portraits to the following stage.
iPhone 13 evaluation: Video
- Cinematic mode routinely modifications give attention to topics whereas including bokeh
- Superior Dolby Imaginative and prescient HDR video high quality
The iPhone 13 is the uncommon smartphone that may make you are feeling like a director as you shoot movies. And that’s because of a brand new characteristic referred to as Cinematic mode. This impact brings depth of discipline to your footage and routinely modifications the main focus to numerous topics relying on what’s occurring within the body, corresponding to somebody turning their head to speak to a different individual. You don’t must elevate a finger and it really works (nearly) like magic.
When taking pictures my three canine taking part in with my daughter, I used to be actually impressed when the iPhone 13 positioned the give attention to the pup that was closest to me at first, and as he left the body my daughter and older golden retriever routinely got here into focus. The bokeh impact on the background is one thing different smartphone makers have tried, together with Samsung, however the Galaxy S21 Extremely isn’t sensible sufficient to change the main focus from topic to topic in actual time.
Cinematic mode isn’t excellent, because the iPhone 13 typically took a second to acknowledge quicker shifting topics (our youthful golden retriever). A much bigger downside is that this mode is capped at 1080p, as you may’t report Cinematic mode in 4K. However total, it’s a cool characteristic I believe lots of people will need to attempt, particularly for social movies on TikTok.
The general video high quality from the iPhone 13 is stellar, with improved noise discount, higher dynamic vary and enhanced semantic rendering that may establish pores and skin, faces, the sky and extra. As I swept across the Manasquan reservoir with the iPhone 13 and iPhone 12, I particularly observed much less noise within the blowing leaves from the iPhone 13’s footage. And in a separate 4K clip, I obtained misplaced within the mild waves lapping towards the sand.
iPhone 13 evaluation: Efficiency and A15 Bionic
- A15 Bionic is quickest chip as soon as once more
- Machine studying efficiency notably higher
The A15 Bionic doesn’t provide dramatic efficiency positive factors over the A14 Bionic powering the iPhone 12, nevertheless it didn’t want to simply to stay the quickest chip in any cellphone. As with the A14 Bionic, the A15 gives a 6-core CPU and 4-core GPU, however there’s now a 16-core Neural Engine for machine studying and AI, up from 8 cores on the earlier chipset.
Apple says that the iPhone 13’s CPU is as much as 50% quicker than the competitors whereas the GPU can deal with graphics rendering 20% quicker. Earlier than we get into the benchmarks, I believe it’s necessary to speak about how swift this cellphone feels in on a regular basis use.
In a sport like Genshin Impression — an open-world journey fight title — the animations and particle results felt console-quality as I climbed mountains, explored sweeping landscapes and tried to battle enemies. I used to be equally impressed by the Search app, which immediately recognized crops after I pointed the digital camera round my yard.
On Geekbench 5, which measures total efficiency, the iPhone 13 scored 4,129 and 1,684 respectively. That’s significantly higher than the three,859/1,593 turned in by the iPhone 12, and it destroys the Galaxy S21’s scores of three,302/1,048.
The iPhone 13’s graphics efficiency additionally impresses. On the 3DMark Wild Life benchmark, the brand new iPhone hit 55.9 frames per second. That’s only a bit greater than the iPhone 12 (51 fps), however the Galaxy S21 Extremely mustered solely 33 fps.
We didn’t see a lot of an enchancment on our video enhancing take a look at utilizing Adobe Premiere Rush. The iPhone 13 took 25.9 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p in comparison with 26.5 seconds for the iPhone 12. The Galaxy S21 took 1 minute and a couple of seconds.
Try our iPhone 13 benchmarks outcomes web page to see how all 4 fashions carry out and the way they in comparison with the Android competitors.
When it comes to 5G efficiency, the iPhone 13 ought to get higher over time as carriers proceed to roll out their networks. For instance, Verizon says its further-reaching C-Band spectrum will attain 100 million individuals by 2022. And we noticed very promising speeds in our Verizon C-Band 5G testing.
Relating to name high quality total we have discovered the iPhone 13 to supply stable efficiency on a number of networks, however one characteristic is lacking. Apple eliminated the cellphone noise cancellation characteristic with the iPhone 13, which was an possibility below accessibility settings on the iPhone 12 and prior iPhones. Some customers have complained that calls can sound worse when there’s quite a lot of background noise. Nonetheless, you may allow voice isolation in Management Heart throughout calls.
iPhone 13 evaluation: Battery life and charging
- 10 hours and 33 minutes of battery life, which is 2 hours higher than iPhone 12
Apple says that the iPhone 13 lasts as much as 1.5 hours longer than the iPhone 12, because of a much bigger battery, extra environment friendly show and the A15 Bionic chip. However our testing confirmed even higher outcomes.
On the Tom’s Information battery take a look at, which includes steady internet browsing over 5G at 150 nits of display screen brightness over mobile (AT&T’s community on this case), the iPhone 13 endured for 10 hours and 33 minutes. That’s greater than 2 hours longer than the 8:25 time that the iPhone 12 turned in. The very best outcome we noticed from the Galaxy S21 was 9:53.
To see how all 4 iPhone 13 fashions fared, take a look at our iPhone 13 battery life outcomes abstract, which incorporates comparisons with extra Android telephones.
Sadly, the iPhone 13 gives the identical charging speeds as earlier than. The brand new iPhone obtained to 51% capability in half-hour with Apple’s 20W charger. Different telephones on our quickest charging telephones listing are a lot speedier, such because the OnePlus 9 Professional.
The iPhone’s 15W MagSafe charger is a bit slower, however some might discover it extra handy as a result of it’s magnetic and doesn’t contain the Lighting port.
iPhone 13 evaluation: Software program
- SharePlay helps you to watch movies and take heed to music with associates
- Focus cuts down on distractions
iOS 15 delivers some welcome enhancements to your iPhone, lots of which give attention to shared experiences. FaceTime has improved audio and a cleaner interface, and the iOS 15.1 replace helps you to take heed to music or watch motion pictures or TV reveals with associates or household by way of SharePlay. And the Messages app delivers a brand new Shared with You part for pictures, articles and extra to make it simpler to maintain monitor of all of the completely different hyperlinks associates textual content your means.
I personally respect the brand new Focus characteristic in iOS 15, which helps you to filter notifications primarily based on what you’re doing. And notifications themselves have been refined, full with a brand new abstract view so that you don’t get overwhelmed by fixed alerts.
Different iOS 15 highlights embrace a redesigned Safari (I really don’t just like the tackle bar on the backside, however Apple helps you to change the placement), a extra full-featured Climate app and an enhanced Maps app with extra element and higher highway views. Final however not least, Stay Textual content bites off Google Lens by recognizing textual content in actual time by way of the digital camera once you need to look issues up or get translations.
In 2024, the iPhone 13 can replace to iOS 18, the fourth of what we count on to be 5 complete OS updates for this mannequin. This permits a lot higher customization of the house display screen, lock display screen and Management Heart, plus revamps the Images app and different acquainted components of the iPhone interface. Sadly you aren’t getting any Apple Intelligence options, because the iPhone 13’s chip is seemingly too underpowered to run them correctly.
iPhone 13 recognized issues
To date iPhone 13 house owners have encountered a couple of issues. For instance, some iPhone 13 customers discovered that the cellphone will not unlock with an Apple Watch, although a repair addressed that. As well as, some iPhone 13 house owners complained concerning the contact show not being responsive sufficient in some instances, which might be an iOS 15 concern.
On the iPhone 13 Execs, there are complaints that the cameras are routinely switching between lenses with out warning, and Apple rolled out an replace that enabled customers to show this off. And the ProMotion shows on the iPhone 13 Execs should not operating at 120Hz with some apps, which Apple additionally addressed with an replace. And builders have to optimize their apps as effectively.
One other concern that is been cropping up for a choose few iPhone 13 customers is an errant pink display screen bug. The bug is usually mounted with a cellphone restart, though the issue has persevered for some, forcing Apple to ship out replacements.
See our iPhone 13 issues roundup for more information.
iPhone 13 evaluation: Verdict
The iPhone 13 is a superb purchase if you wish to save versus newer iPhones. I particularly just like the lengthy battery life, because the iPhone 12’s endurance was underwhelming even for a 5G cellphone. I wouldn’t suggest that iPhone 12 house owners improve to the iPhone 13, however the iPhone 13 is price it if you happen to personal an iPhone 11 or older machine.
I don’t assume many individuals will care concerning the smaller notch. What really stands out on the iPhone 13 is the digital camera. The low-light efficiency is even higher now, and computational images options like Cinematic mode and Photographic types flex the A15 Bionic’s muscle tissue in ways in which go means past benchmarks.
I’m additionally glad Apple doubled the beginning storage at 128GB, as that transfer was overdue and places the brand new iPhone on a par with Android flagships. I’d prefer to see Apple provide quicker charging, in addition to a 120Hz show.
The underside line is that the iPhone 13 is a incredible cellphone if you wish to lower your expenses.
