Some Thoughts on the iPhone 13 Pro
Ten years after the passing of Steve Jobs, the iPhone endures…
Ten years ago today, the world lost Steve Jobs. In many ways, it feels like an entirely different world. But in one very key and fundamental way it feels the same. There was and remains a single piece of technology which is the most important device that a large percentage of the world uses on a daily basis: the iPhone.
You could certainly make the case that the Mac, as the device which started it all and the one which later saved Apple, was more important for Jobs. And both the iPad and iPod make strong cases for their own importance. But without question, the iPhone has reached a scale which is unparalleled not just for Apple, but for basically any company and product. And it has transformed Apple from a powerful tech company to a $2.5T company. The most valuable company in the world.
Ten years ago, Jobs passed away the day after Apple unveiled the iPhone 4S. And so I thought it was only fitting to jot down some thoughts about its great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great — and I do mean great — grandchild, the iPhone 13.¹
Specifically, I mean the iPhone 13 Pro, the model I chose to get this time around. And that in and of itself is notable for me because I previously had the iPhone 12 Pro. And I believe this is the first time in a while where I’ve gotten the exact same variety of iPhone two years in a row. In the past, I’ve opted to switch things up by getting a ‘Max’ variant (boy, has that word been ruined…) or Apple switched things up enough that the form factor was significantly different. This time, the device both looks and feels almost the same to me. Yes, it’s slightly heavier and baby — sorry, “Sierra” — bluer. But just looking at it head on, it looks the same and it feels largely the same in hand.
And so it has been interesting using it this past week and a half in that regard. In many ways, it doesn’t seem different from using the iPhone 12 Pro. But there are two key day-to-day differences which I do think matter.
The first is the 120Hz “ProMotion” screen. It’s one of those things that is perhaps non-obvious at first. Oddly, it’s even a little hard to discern side-by-side with a non-ProMotion display — for example, the iPhone 12 Pro. But in day-to-day usage, if you’ve used an iPhone long enough, which we all have, you notice it. It’s smoother. Across the board. It’s sort of a weird thing to describe. The best I can do is that it almost feels like the old “Pan & Scan” effect they used to do when converting movies to VHS (so as to avoid the “letterboxes”, for shame). With that context, it sounds like a diss. But it’s not! It’s cool! Very smooooooooth. Like “Retina” screens before it, once you’re used to it, it’s hard to go back.²
The second very noticeable change is the camera system. Simply put: “Macro Mode” is fucking amazing. “Cinematic Mode” is fucking awesome. While I generally try to avoid reading iPhone reviews before I jot down my own thoughts, I have seen on the internets that the latter has gotten some dings for being a bit wonky while the former has gotten some dings for being a little too automatic. I think both are fair critiques to point out, but both will undoubtedly be fixed with time. When they work, they work incredibly well.
And I’ve gotten both to work with minimal effort. I think “Macro Mode” is so cool that it’s one of those things that people will buy this phone for alone. Because even if you don’t really need a super zoomed in picture of a flower to the point of being almost — almost — sexual (I don’t name the parts of a flower, people), you’re gonna want to see it to believe it.
Meanwhile, “Cinematic Mode” is just so lovely, particularly for family videos. I shot one at my little girl’s birthday party over the weekend and when we watched it on our 70" TV via AirPlay it looked almost realer than real. Because, newsflash: your eyes also focus on certain subjects while blurring other things in the background.
I actually thought after the reveal of the iPhone 13 models that I’d find these to be the most “tick” (as opposed to “tock”) devices yet. But those two features changed my mind. While the devices themselves may look the same up front, the camera system in particular is probably worth the upgrade if you care about such things. Which you probably do.
That also comes at a slight cost, of course, beyond the literal one. The camera bump is massive this year. It has been getting larger and larger over time, of course. But this is the biggest bump and jump yet. So much so that I’m not sure it’s even fair to call it a “bump” anymore. It’s more like a plateau. Apple, to their credit, seems to be leaning into it, to own it. But my god, even the official cases need a goddamn bump this year! That means you can no longer lay the thing flat on its back with a case. Which is weird. But hey, for that, beyond the above, you get 3x zoom. I’ll take it, but I wonder where this ends. Fuck it, five blades?³
Let’s see, what else? Massive camera bump aside, the box for the iPhone 13 Pro is amazing. It’s so svelte. I remember when these boxes were full-on bricks. Now they’re half-bricks. It’s impressive.⁴
Because of the massive camera bump, I’ve been slightly more terrified than normal to go case-free thus far, but the ‘Sierra Blue’ is quite nice. I definitely like it more than last year’s ‘Pacific Blue’. But again, I mainly notice it through the window cut out in my case for the camera bump — albeit a large one. (Have I made it clear how big the camera bump is yet? Take what I’m saying and multiply it by 3x.) The large lenses almost look like they’re floating in a shallow sea of blue. It’s a cool effect.
Another key touted element this year is battery life improvements. It’s a big reason why I was okay staying with the ‘Pro’ versus the ‘Pro Max’ — I found the iPhone 12 Pro’s battery lacking a bit, but if I was really going to get another 1.5 hours in the iPhone 13 Pro… The result? Pretty good. It’s definitely lasting longer in day-to-day usage but it’s hard to tell how much of that was the 12’s battery wearing down with usage versus this brand-new 13 battery. On the flip side, I was undoubtedly using the 13 more to test it out in these early days (and, as we all know, there’s a lot going on behind the scenes when you first set up a new iPhone to back things up, optimize, etc). So I feel good about the battery, but it’s not blow-you-out-of-the-water (like, say, the M1 MacBook Air battery upgrade). At least not yet.⁵
The forward-facing “chin” which houses the camera/Face ID elements is indeed smaller this year, but it’s also one of those things you don’t really notice day-to-day.
So, does the thing feel faster overall with the new A15 ‘Bionic’ chip? No. I haven’t noticed any difference, to be honest. I’m sure that’s in part because no app has been designed to take advantage of the new chip yet. But it’s also undoubtedly because I’m not sure any app really ever pushed last year’s chip either. Apple is so far ahead here that they’re just really racing against themselves. I’m sure someone will throw some specs at me about the Samsung Whatever X38382, but come on. Day to day the iPhone is so fast that it has outrun itself. BUT, I do think it’s a good point and worth pointing out that most people are not like me and don’t upgrade from the iPhone 12 Pro to the iPhone 13 Pro. Most people are upgrading from the iPhone XS or X or perhaps earlier. And for them, the speed jump this year will undoubtedly be massive. Almost as massive as that camera bump.
I think it’s also worth pointing out just how easy it is now to do a yearly upgrade to the latest and greatest iPhone just by way of trading in an old one. Whereas in the past I’ve been on the iPhone Upgrade Program, I got off it last year mainly because I found it slightly clunky and thought using the Apple Card’s 0% APR and 3% cash back was more seamless and arguably a better deal — especially with that trade-in value.
This year, for the iPhone 12 Pro, you can get $640 off your new iPhone (or $790 if you have the 12 Pro Max). So, depending on your memory configuration, that brings the iPhone 13 Pro cost down to a few hundred dollars. And next year, when you do the same (assuming, of course, that you don’t destroy the device), it will mean roughly the same.
Look, it’s still a lot of money. But again, it’s also undoubtedly your most-used device so it might be worth it — certainly depending on which model of iPhone you currently have.
I’ll close by hearkening back to Jobs’ original iPhone unveil. “An iPod. A phone. And an internet communicator.” Fourteen years later, the iPhone is still all of those things, but there are arguably far more important elements of the device now. A camera. A wallet. A reader. A video conferencing center. A security card. A bus pass. A television screen. Yes, just like the iPhone 4S, a virtual assistant, when she works. A way not just to access your music, but all the music. The list goes on and on and on. That’s quite the legacy for Steve Jobs.
¹ I didn’t do the math, there could be a few more “greats” in there.
² And yes, it has been on the iPads Pro for a bit.
³ In all seriousness, I worry about the lenses more than ever now. Are we going to need lens caps eventually?!
⁴ One upside of no power bricks, I suppose?
⁵ And that matters to me because while I have a battery pack, the one I bought (a Mophie MagSafe one, before Apple’s own version came out) actually no longer fits on the back of the iPhone due to the 13’s massive camera bump!
