iPhone 13 Series hands-on review

Apple's latest handsets have landed and we've got our hands on the #iPhone13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro and #iPhone13ProMax.

We havent had long with 2021's most antipited phones so here are our intial thoughts on the new devices. You can expext more indepth, device sepecific, review in the coming days.

Let start with the basic iPhone 13…

Apple’s latest doesn’t bring with it a huge number of new features, but it does improve on the iPhone 12 in several areas – chiefly battery life, power, display and cameras – to make this one of the most impressive all-round handsets we’ve seen from #Apple.

On paper, you’d be hard pressed to find a reason why Apple didn’t call this phone the iPhone 12S. The design is largely the same, the specs don’t look hugely different, and there aren’t many headline-grabbing new features.

However, everything on the iPhone 13 is a touch better than before – and some elements are significantly better.

The highlight of the iPhone 13 is its battery life. Previously, iPhones haven’t been synonymous with strong battery life, but during every day or our testing so far we’ve been hard-pressed to run the iPhone 13 out of juice.
The iPhone 13’s new A15 Bionic chipset, meanwhile, is incredibly powerful, and paired with 4GB of RAM it’s capable of running multiple apps and tasks quickly and efficiently.

A new duo camera for the iPhone 13 improves clarity in images, while the introduction of the company’s Sensor Shift optical image stabilization (OIS) technology, previously only available on Apple’s Pro Max handsets, is a big deal for those who want to shoot quickly without losing their subject in a blur.

And as for video the big new stand out feature here is cinematic mode, allowing you to not only shoot your subjects with deliciously blurry backgrounds but also pull focus between subjects while recording.

Even the screen on the iPhone 13 is a touch better than what we’ve seen on previous ‘standard’ iPhones, and that’s a big deal if you’re upgrading from an iPhone XS or older. The OLED technology here enables a brighter picture than ever, and the picture quality is simply fantastic.

One disappointment, however, is that Apple hasn’t included a 120Hz refresh rate on the iPhone 13, so you’re not getting as smooth an experience as on the iPhone 13 Pro or iPhone 13 Pro Max.

As ever, Apple’s new iPhone will cost you, with the iPhone 13 price starting at $799 [show on screen £779 / AU$1,349] – although this year that gets you 128GB of storage, rather than the 64GB of the base-model iPhone 12.

While at first glance the iPhone 13 may not seem like a great leap forward for Apple, the improved battery life, performance, screen and camera all add up to be a worthwhile upgrade for anyone who’s coming from an older iPhone, or looking to make the switch from Android.

And if that price point sits just out of reach for you then it might be worth taking a look at the iPhone 13 mini. Starting at $100 less, the miniature iPhone is back for 2021, and it features all the same specs as the iPhone 13 but in a smaller package that is more suited for those who want a tiny phone.
It’s not actually that tiny, but the phone features a 5.4-inch screen in a much smaller design than every other new iPhone we’ve seen introduced in 2021.
If you’re looking for premium specs, but you also don’t want a 6.7-inch iPhone 13 Pro Max, the iPhone 13 mini may be the handset you should consider.

And now onto the pro models, the iPhone 13 Pro and 13 pro max haven't brought massive changes to the Apple formula, but they do bring with them a few upgrades that may peak your interest, such as a smooth 120Hz display and, Apple claims, better battery life than previous iPhone models.

There are also photography and video upgrades, and a new 1TB-storage variant. The changes from the iPhone 12 Pro are negligible, but if you own an iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone XS or earlier the iPhone 13 Pro makes a compelling case for being your next handset.

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