iPhone 13 Pro Reviews: ProMotion and Longer Battery Life Highlight an Iterative Refresh

[MacRumors]

iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max will begin arriving to customers and launch in stores this Friday, September 24, and ahead of time, reviews of the devices have now been shared by several tech websites and YouTube channels.

Image Credit: The Verge​

Key features across the iPhone 13 lineup include a faster A15 Bionic chip, camera improvements, longer battery life, and a smaller notch. The two Pro models also feature a ProMotion display with a variable refresh rate up to 120Hz, up to 1TB of storage, and additional camera features like Night mode portraits and ProRes video recording.

The only differences between the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max relate to their respective 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch display sizes, battery life, and the weight of the devices, as the Pro and Pro Max have identical camera systems this year.

We've already rounded up unboxing videos of the devices, and we've shared some highlights from written reviews below.

ProMotion

The Verge's Dieter Bohn said Apple did an "excellent job" with its implementation of a ProMotion display on iPhone 13 Pro models. While previous iPhones are limited to a 60Hz refresh rate, ProMotion enables iPhone 13 Pro models to have an adaptive refresh rate between 10Hz and 120Hz depending on the type of content that is displayed on the screen, resulting in smoother appearing content while watching videos, gaming, and scrolling text.

When I scroll on the iPhone 13 Pro, the text stays readable instead of turning into a blur. Things moving on the screen are smoother. It feels more like a direct interaction with my finger because the iPhone can literally change its refresh rate to match my movement.

Longer Battery Life

The Wall Street Journal's Joanna Stern said all four iPhone 13 models last at least an hour longer than the equivalent iPhone 12 models.

In my daily use, all four of the models lasted at least an hour longer than their predecessors. The Pro Max could easily go until the next day. If you want to stretch battery life further, you can turn off 5G. (Power savings aside, it's a fun experiment to see how little 5G really adds to the smartphone experience right now.)

Stern did recommend that customers consider replacing the battery in their current iPhone if they are experiencing shorter battery life, as that would certainly be a more economical option than upgrading to a brand new iPhone.

Cameras

CNET's Patrick Holland was particularly impressed with the new Cinematic mode, which is available on all four iPhone 13 models.

All of the iPhones 13 get a new feature called Cinematic mode. It uses the rear cameras or the True Depth camera array to create a 1,080p video at 30fps. What makes the video compelling is that everything but your subject is out of focus. The iPhone can even execute a rack focus from one subject to another. The effect is dramatic and impressive.

Holland did note that Cinematic mode needs a good amount of light to work best. If conditions are too dark, users are notified to turn the iPhone's flash on.

A15 Bionic

As we saw in early benchmark results, the A15 Bionic chip in iPhone 13 models is around 10-15% faster compared to the A14 Bionic chip in the iPhone 12 lineup. CNET's Patrick Holland shared a chart with Geekbench 5 scores for comparison.

More Reviews

• Wired's Julian Chokkattu
• MobileSyrup's Patrick O'Rourke
• The New York Times' Brian X. Chen
• CNBC's Todd Haselton

MacRumors will have our own hands-on iPhone 13 review in an upcoming video, so be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Article Link: iPhone 13 Pro Reviews: ProMotion and Longer Battery Life Highlight an Iterative Refresh

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Claimed by the Wall Street... The Pro Max could easily go until the next day.

Pro Max Battery life is pretty impressive! wow! Expecting to hit 2 days without a single charge

 

[Serban55]

So, better display, better camera, better battery life, better SoC...
What more can you want from an upgrade?!
This is a rock solid smartphone, while samsung fold its the opposite - a fragile starter smartphone

 

[kylelerner]

I’ll be turning off 5G once I get an iPhone equipped with it. Most insane marketing hype for a new technology ever.

Not once in my life have I felt that LTE wasn’t sufficient enough. So, I’ll take the battery savings, thank you very much.

 

[kahkityoong]

What the hell was going through their minds when the Verge made that photo for the review? Looks like an alien vomited on the wall.

 

[The Game 161]

MKBHD said on his 13 pro he was at 5 hours screen time with like 50% left

 

[ghsDUDE]

I really want the 13 Pro Max battery…but I go jogging with my phone in my pocket and that has to feel like a brick.

Really hoping the 13 Pro battery is better than 12 Pro…13 Pro is perfect size for me, just need better battery life.

 

[mozumder]

Cameras still oversaturated and lose detail in highlights. They have that gross yellow look. Was hoping that was going away, guess not.

 

[GDF]

I’ll be turning off 5G once I get an iPhone equipped with it. Most insane marketing hype for a new technology ever.

Not once in my life have I felt that LTE wasn’t sufficient enough. So, I’ll take the battery savings, thank you very much.

I wonder how much more battery you get with 5G turned off?

 

[Razorpit]

"a ProMotion display with a variable refresh rate up to 120Hz" Something that until recently I never knew I "needed", and as an owner of a XS and a new iPad Pro 11" still don't understand why I need it. I must be the most tech dense person in the room. 😆

 

[subi257]

The Pro Max could easily go until the next day.

Pro Max Battery life is pretty impressive! wow!

That would be nice if it really as good as claimed.

 

[JosephAW]

Not sure why they did just call it an iPhone 12S. A numerical increase should require a larger hardware and visual product difference than the previous model.
I suppose the new colors require a new number.

 

[jntdroid]

I’ll be turning off 5G once I get an iPhone equipped with it. Most insane marketing hype for a new technology ever.

Not once in my life have I felt that LTE wasn’t sufficient enough. So, I’ll take the battery savings, thank you very much.

In the next 6 months 5G will become a more significant "upgrade" on T-Mobile, and especially Verizon (not sure where AT&T stands right now), as the mid-band spectrum is rolled out and turned on.

Edit: that said, I agree, I've never felt LTE wasn't enough either...

 

[jntdroid]

What the hell was going through their minds when the Verge made that photo for the review? Looks like an alien vomited on the wall.

I didn't even notice that. That's hilarious...

 

[bchery21]

Not sure why they did just call it an iPhone 12S. A numerical increase should require a larger hardware and visual product difference than the previous model.
I suppose the new colors require a new number.

I thought they were just getting away from the 'S' naming system altogether.

 

[subi257]

Cameras still oversaturated and lose detail in highlights. They have that gross yellow look. Was hoping that was going away, guess not.

Not necessarily any different than a DSLR or mirrorless, Sony's sensor has different colorimetry than Canon, than Nikon. If all oof that is really important then afterwards bring them into Lightroom, Aprerture or Apple photos and color correct them.

 

[jntdroid]

"a ProMotion display with a variable refresh rate up to 120Hz" Something that until recently I never knew I "needed", and as an owner of a XS and a new iPad Pro 11" still don't understand why I need it. I must be the most tech dense person in the room. 😆

Yeah it's definitely not a need. That said, using the Galaxy S21 for awhile, that 120hz refresh rate really does make the overall UI experience smoother. But that's on a Samsung... I'm not sure how much it would add to an already smooth iOS.

 

[subi257]

I wonder how much more battery you get with 5G turned off?

Good question. I also wonder if once you activate it, your carrier will automatically move you over to a 5G plan?

 

[subi257]

"a ProMotion display with a variable refresh rate up to 120Hz" Something that until recently I never knew I "needed", and as an owner of a XS and a new iPad Pro 11" still don't understand why I need it. I must be the most tech dense person in the room. 😆

I personally don't know why it's needed on such a small screen.....I am not sure you will see it, but once my 13 Pro shows up I will know for sure.

 

[JulianL]

I’ll be turning off 5G once I get an iPhone equipped with it. Most insane marketing hype for a new technology ever.

Not once in my life have I felt that LTE wasn’t sufficient enough. So, I’ll take the battery savings, thank you very much.

Might 5G have a hidden benefit for people like you and me? I’m also 100% happy with LTE but if all the marketing hype starts luring people off the LTE frequencies onto 5G, and those really heavy data users who actually need 5G also consciously make the switch, then wouldn’t our LTE experiences get even better due to less contention?

I suppose there’s a danger that networks actively decommission LTE masts in favour of 5G but I hope that doesn’t happen for at least a few years yet and until it does I’m also keeping 5G disabled and enjoying the extra battery life.

 

[dlewis23]

I’ll be turning off 5G once I get an iPhone equipped with it. Most insane marketing hype for a new technology ever.

Not once in my life have I felt that LTE wasn’t sufficient enough. So, I’ll take the battery savings, thank you very much.

So this is all hype?

 

[Orange Bat]

"a ProMotion display with a variable refresh rate up to 120Hz" Something that until recently I never knew I "needed", and as an owner of a XS and a new iPad Pro 11" still don't understand why I need it. I must be the most tech dense person in the room. 😆

From everything I’ve read it‘s a thing that you absolutely can live without, but that once you have it for a while, you won’t want to live without it as it makes everything “feel” snappier on the phone.

 

[Superhappytree]

So, better display, better camera, better battery life, better SoC...
What more can you want from an upgrade?!
This is a rock solid smartphone, while samsung fold its the opposite - a fragile starter smartphone

People expect WAY too much from smartphones these days as if we’re still in the early to mid 2010s when upgrades were only significant because there was still a lot of features to include and improve upon, but now we’ve reached a point where you can only improve upon the little things.

Sure, it would be nice if we had no notch and TouchID under the display which are coming but apart from that there is nothing more to be done really. People’s minds are still stuck in that 2010s innovative timeframe and they expect the same unrealistic big changes today when they have already been implemented back then. iPhones and phones in general are ‘boring’ now because there is nothing more to add to them. Save for the couple of features I pointed out above the ‘innovation’ that everyone is craving is done and I have no idea why they can’t see that.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

I think battery life is more of a software issue than a hardware issue. The battery is plenty big and the CPU is plenty efficient - the issue is all the crap that apps are doing.

I want the ability to see how much resources apps are consuming. I don't want to just see how much power they drained from the background by looking at a summary later on - I want to be notified as they do it and kill them. Or better yet, I want the OS to do it for me.

But Apple doesn't want to do that. They want to encourage wasteful software that kills their phones for no reason, to encourage people to buy new phones for no good reason.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

So, better display, better camera, better battery life, better SoC...
What more can you want from an upgrade?!
This is a rock solid smartphone, while samsung fold its the opposite - a fragile starter smartphone

Sorry your Samsung Fold wasn't what you paid almost $2000 for. You can probably get $1000 trade-in towards the "rock solid" iPhone 13 Pro Max.