The iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max are now official and we have all the details, from the big features, specs and pricing details.
The iPhone 13 Pro isn’t a radical rethinking of the iPhone and in some previous years this might have even been labelled as an iPhone 12S Pro – something previous rumours had suggested might happen. However that is very much not the case.
That’s not to say this doesn’t seem like an exciting update though, as many of the features added are exactly what we felt were missing from the iPhone 12 Pro.
There’s also a whole new display with a feature we’ve wanted for years, an updated chipset and brand new camera features to attract upgraders.
The iPhone 13 Pro comes in two sizes (6.1-inch and 6.7-inch) and they’ll sit alongside the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini.
Price
Apple is slightly lowering the price for this year’s iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max, which is surprising in some ways, but does offer an insight into Apple’s thinking about this quite restrained update.
The iPhone 13 Pro starts at £949, while the iPhone 13 Pro Max is £,1049. Apple must know this may be a tough sell for iPhone 12 Pro owners as it is offering up to $1,000 on trade-ins on select models. Last year’s models started at £999 and £1099 respectively.
Apple is adding a 1TB storage model this time around, meaning there are now four configurations: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB and 1TB. The highest end iPhone 13 Pro Max costs £1,549.
All models will be available to pre-order from 1pm on Friday September 17 and will be available to buy on September 24 in graphite, gold, silver, and sierra blue. For wider pricing details see the chart below:
Camera
- Three 12MP camera array on the back
- 3x optical zoom
- Improved ultra wide sensor
- Plenty of new video features
Apple says the triple sensor 12-megapixel camera system on the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max is the biggest camera system advancement ever. Both models have a 77mm telephoto lens with a 3x optical zoom for both photos and videos.
Apple has also integrated a new ultra-wide sensor that’s 92% better in low-light conditions compared to its predecessor. This sensor includes macro photography for the first time, addressing quite a significant shortcoming on iPhone models. That means you’ll be able to get as close of 2cm to your target. The feature looked amazing during the event, as you’d expect, and Apple says it’ll also work in video, slo-mo and time lapse modes.
The main 1.9 µm pixel Wide camera offers more detail than the iPhone 12 Pro and promises 2x low light information thanks to the ƒ/1.5 aperture.
All three cameras now have Night Mode enabled too, while the company is promising a new Smart HDR computational photography feature for even better AI-based results.
As with the iPhone 13 models, the Pro offers Sensor-shift optical image stabilisation, which stabilises the sensor rather than the lens for both photos and videos.
The filmmaker centric Cinematic mode offering “rack focus” is also available, as is a new feature called ProRes for more advanced iPhone-based filmmakers, which Apple says will “offer higher colour fidelity and less compression.”
All in all, the cameras seem like the biggest update for this year’s models.
Battery
- Apple claims endurance improvements
- No detail yet on battery size
- No charger included
Apple has redesigned the innards of the iPhone 13 Pro range, which gives it the opportunity to include a larger battery.
Coupled with the efficiency of iOS 15 and the new A15 Bionic chip, Apple says iPhone 13 Pro users will see huge improvements of up to 1.5 hours per charge.
On the iPhone 13 Pro Max, it’s an extra 2.5 hours added to the all-day battery life. Apple says the latter provides the longest battery life ever on an iPhone handset with up to 28 hours of continuous video playback on the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
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Screen
- The first iPhone to ship with a faster 120Hz ProMotion display
- Two sizes: 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch
- Improved brightness levels
Apple is maintaining the display sizes for the iPhone 13 Pro models. The iPhone 13 Pro has a 6.1-inch OLED display, while the iPhone 13 Pro Max has a 6.7-inch OLED display.
The iPhone 13 Pro debuts a brand new Super Retina HDR display with 1000 nits of brightness, a boost of more than 25% over the iPhone 12 Pro range.
Apple is also bringing the ProMotion tech to iPhone for the first time. There’s a dynamic refresh rate from 10Hz to 120Hz, depending on the content.
So, if you’re scrolling through a simple app, the refresh rate will be lower in order to conserve battery life. For high-powered gaming experiences you’ll get the whole hog. The ProMotion tech also works when switching between apps.
Naturally, the durable Ceramic Shield tech (which protects the advanced display from scuffs, scratches and shatters) from the iPhone 12 Pro range is retained this time around.
While the notch hasn’t been completely dispensed of, Apple has made the TrueDepth camera array, handling Face ID and selfies, 20% smaller than last year’s models.
Specs
The headline feature here is the new A15 Bionic Processor which has a 5-core GPU, which Apple says is 50% faster than the competition. There’s a 6-core CPU comprised of two new high-performance cores and four new high-efficiency cores. Apple is also promising a new 16 core neural engine which it says can knock out 15.8 trillion operations per second.
The iPhone 13 Pro Max is also IP68 water and dust resistant, while durability is promised via the surgical-grade stainless steel band and matte glass rear fish.
Apple is also promising 5G will work in more places thanks to the addition of new bands. That’ll likely be region-dependent, so we’ll await news on whether 5G performance will be boosted in the UK on these models.
For a full look at all the specs, see the chart below.
Trusted Take
Last year it felt very much like the regular iPhone 12 and Pro models were hard to differentiate. That’s not the case anymore, as the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max have a number of features not supported by the cheaper phones. The biggest of these is the faster 120Hz ProMotion display which should give everything, from scrolling to gaming, some extra zip. For many, this will be the biggest reason to upgrade.
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Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
