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

[Orange Bat]

I need an upgrade from my Pixel 3 and I think at this point I’ll be getting a 13 Pro. I’m tempted by the 13 Pro Max, but the thing just looks TOO big for me. I used a 6s Plus for many years, and while I loved the large screen, it could be a bit of a hassle at times. I’m also tempted to go with 256GB, but if I’m honest 128GB will probably be more than enough. The hard thing for me is getting what I need and not getting distracted by the BIG phone and the BIG memory with the BIG price tag.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

So this is all hype?

View attachment 1838540

The hype is, what exactly do you need 665Mbps for on a smartphone? As @kylelerner said, LTE has pretty much always been fast enough to do what people do with smartphones.

 

[Brenster]

ProMotion & battery life improvements vs my 12 Pro is all I’m particularly worried about, everything else is just gravy. Both The Verge and the WSJ have highlighted it as a noticeable improvement, and that having got so used to it on my 2017 iPad Pro I wound up with a 2021 11” iPad Pro over the iPad Air, it looks like I’m making good on my Friday night Apple store iUP reservation.

For those asking, its one of those things you rapidly get used to once you have it. Using anything other than an iPad Pro and the step down in scrolling quality (legibility text on web pages, smoothness of swiping between home screens) is instantly apparent. if you’ve never had it, you don’t miss what you never had. if you have had it however….

 

[JosephAW]

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.

My brother’s iPhone has 5G and he streams music all the time and the music app buffer is set very small on these devices and it keeps pausing music on 5G. Even if he switches off 5G and uses LTE it keeps pausing even more while my older iPhone 11 on the same carrier streams non stop on LTE.
There needs to be an option to choose how large a buffer size for Apple Music. Does iOS 15 address this?

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

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.

More likely they realize that telling their mostly non-tech savvy audience to choose a phone between the iPhone SE, iPhone 12 Mini, 12, 12S Mini, 12, 12S, 12S Pro and 12S Pro Max might get kind of confusing.
It was one thing when every year they released one phone and one phone only, but now that the lineup has four flag ships and the lower end models, the S just makes things more complicated
Also, The names can only get more confusing from here. If the rumors about a folding iPhone are true, imagine an iPhone 17S Pro Max Fold.
Starts to sound more like a Samsung phone than an iPhone.
So, it’s just easier to go with a new number every year.
Not to mention a new number makes the phone seem more new, which is always good for the marketing department, and also lets be honest, with smart phone upgrades becoming smaller and smaller every year, the iPhone 13 is really more of an iPhone XSSSS.

 

[whoknows2597]

So this is all hype?

View attachment 1838540

Okay but how does that affect my everyday life? Is it sustainable throughout the day? Is there sufficient coverage in cities where bandwidth can be blocked by various buildings? Let’s get sustainable countrywide coverage for LTE before moving to 5G.

 

[Menneisyys2]

What I’m personally interested in as follows in the Pro (I don’t bother with the 13 or the 13 Mini as they’re a bad value compared to the Pro this year, unlike back in the iPhone 11 days):

1, is the UW (ultrawide) image quality indeed far better than that of the 11/12 series? (I know the plain 13 and the 13Mini have the same old and pretty cr@ppy lens assembly as the earlier models, that is, the same quality.) Does it exhibit massive smearing towards the edges?

Note: I know CA (color aberration) is a major problem with anything UW so I don’t expect flawlessness in that respect. It’s mostly the sharpness that severely degrades the overall image quality in the "old" UW optics.

2, is the tele (77mm) lens automatically disabled behind the scenes in anything but good light and does the phone switch to using the normal lens instead and just apply cropping, resulting in way worse resolution than the tele lens could otherwise deliver? That has always been a problem with Apple’s implementation (particularly on the 7+, which didn’t sport an IS in the tele camera, unlike the successor models except for IIRC the 8+), even when shooting on a tripod where camera shake wouldn’t have been a problem.

3, does the main camera still exhibit “wobbling” upon loud music or other low-frequency sounds like in the 7+ or the 11? This has made most kinds of concert shooting impossible with (at least) the normal lens.

 

[Nautilus007]

I just want a breathing apple logo or some sort of notification LED/always on display.

 

[Damian83]

So this is all hype?

View attachment 1838540

and what do u do with this speed considering internal memory is slow like hell?? maybe using it as hotspot, ok, but would you dare to use it for download a 4k blu ray? with that data plan used you can buy an original bluray instead... anyway you get that speed if you re outside buildings and i doubt you download big files once you re walking in the park.i dont see any uses for this 5g. a city filled with wifi ax hotspots its a far better solution, not mentioning wifi uses a fraction of battery compared to 3-4-5g...

 

[nilk]

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'm on a 12 Pro Max and never changed my AT&T plan to one that has 5G (keeping a 9GB plan that they no longer offer and costs much less than the unlimited plans). I don't feel like I'm missing out, but I'm on WiFi most of the time.

 

[jmgregory1]

I still find it funny how reviewers say the high refresh rate is great for making text readable while scrolling. Maybe it’s just the fact that I’m old, or older than almost all tech reviewers, but are people actually trying to read things while scrolling on screen?

I‘m sure I won’t complain about 120Hz variable refresh on an iPhone when I eventually get one, but I’ve had it since 2018 with my iPad Pro and even with the larger screen don’t see a difference - because I’m not trying to read and scroll at the same time.

 

[alexandr]

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.

why didn't they call the 8 a 7s?

 

[Razorpit]

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.

Hopefully that doesn't mean we're going to start to see more bloat in iOS.

 

[dlewis23]

and what do u do with this speed considering internal memory is slow like hell?? maybe using it as hotspot, ok, but would you dare to use it for download a 4k blu ray? with that data plan used you can buy an original bluray instead... anyway you get that speed if you re outside buildings and i doubt you download big files once you re walking in the park.i dont see any uses for this 5g. a city filled with wifi ax hotspots its a far better solution, not mentioning wifi uses a fraction of battery compared to 3-4-5g...

What??? The storage is not "slow like hell" and yea I would dare use it to download a 4k blu ray if I chose to but I actually use it for transmitting other very large files quite often.

That speed is not outside, it's actually inside my house. I actually download and upload big files often when on 5G and have even done it walking though a park.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

I just want a breathing apple logo or some sort of notification LED/always on display.

I just don't understand why there aren't fixed icons on the lock screen that show missed calls, voicemails or new messages? Android has it (along with always on display). Simple to see if there is something you need to attend to. But iPhone? Gotta wake it up and then unlock it and check icons for Phone and Messages.

Lock screen notifications are useless as they can get lost in a mix of lots of other notifications or simply are not there.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

What??? The storage is not "slow like hell" and yea I would dare use it to download a 4k blu ray if I chose to but I actually use it for transmitting other very large files quite often.

That speed is not outside, it's actually inside my house. I actually download and upload big files often when on 5G and have even done it walking though a park.

Curious what kind files you actually are shuttling up and down on your smartphone "quite often"?

 

[subi257]

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.

Has it been determined or specified that it does use more power?

 

[subi257]

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.

I completely agree. They are a mature product now, there are people complaining about form factor. Well as of right now there are 2 choices.....candy bar or flip. I can't think of any other option...unless we get away from that form factor completely.glasses, with a screen in them and a tiny CPU like 1 x 1 and you just leave in your pocket.

 

[ilfn143]

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.

Some areas have only 1 bar LTE signal on my wife's 11 pro while I have full 5G signal on my 12 pro max so I just leave it on. Battery is good enough for the day anyway.

 

[dlewis23]

Curious what kind files you actually are shuttling up and down on your smartphone "quite often"?

A lot of CAD files and 3D models/measures of rooms and such. A few times a month there will be video to go with it.

 

[agsystems]

What I’m personally interested in as follows in the Pro (I don’t bother with the 13 or the 13 Mini as they’re a bad value compared to the Pro this year, unlike back in the iPhone 11 days):

1, is the UW (ultrawide) image quality indeed far better than that of the 11/12 series? (I know the plain 13 and the 13Mini have the same old and pretty cr@ppy lens assembly as the earlier models, that is, the same quality.) Does it exhibit massive smearing towards the edges?

Note: I know CA (color aberration) is a major problem with anything UW so I don’t expect flawlessness in that respect. It’s mostly the sharpness that severely degrades the overall image quality in the "old" UW optics.

2, is the tele (77mm) lens automatically disabled behind the scenes in anything but good light and does the phone switch to using the normal lens instead and just apply cropping, resulting in way worse resolution than the tele lens could otherwise deliver? That has always been a problem with Apple’s implementation (particularly on the 7+, which didn’t sport an IS in the tele camera, unlike the successor models except for IIRC the 8+), even when shooting on a tripod where camera shake wouldn’t have been a problem.

3, does the main camera still exhibit “wobbling” upon loud music or other low-frequency sounds like in the 7+ or the 11? This has made most kinds of concert shooting impossible with (at least) the normal lens.

These are good questions- unlikely any reviewer its going to stumble into any of these issues within the 7 days they have to turn over their reviews

 

[Iconoclysm]

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.

Like Wifi 6, it's not really about download speeds but better latency, less congestion, etc. I would just recommend you turn it back on when you're at a big event with 10s of thousands of people and your service is sucking.

I do that a lot, probably go to 30-40 big concerts a year, and 5G is something I've been waiting for forever...then the pandemic hit when I got my first 5G phone and I've had no use for it lol.

 

[deivydas]

Talking about cameras. I don't want to be that guy, but after seeing photo samples on all these reviews I would say I expected way more...It's not that 13 Pro cameras are bad, but improvement coming from 12 Pro/Pro Max doesn't seem as drastic as Apple was delivering on event (surprise, surprise) Situation with video camera is way different, but I'm doing videos with my phone ~4-5 times per year But still...I pre-order 13 Pro already, so we will see.

 

[cardfan]

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.

Yep all out of features. No more features ever. Those were it. Used em all up.

 

[bradman83]

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 suppose there were two reasons for it. The S models are somewhat confusing to consumers who don’t understand what it means, whereas switching to sequential models is easier. Apple also used to change the chassis design every other model, but starting with the iPhone 6 they haven’t. The 6’s design language spanned four generations (6, 6S, 7, 8) and the X design language spanned three (X, XS, 11). Rather than rigidly stick to a tick-tock design cadence it’s probably better for Apple to just release a new design when it’s ready, as they did with the 12 instead of milking the X/11 design for another generation as an iPhone 11S.