FINALLY available for sale in Malaysia this past weekend, Apple’s range of iPhone 13s is no radical departure from the most recent versions to come out. It’s the same aesthetically pleasing design, though slightly thicker and wider (to accommodate a bigger battery), and the A15 Bionic chip is as powerful as ever.
There are always rumours of the iPhone doing something drastic, such as removing the charging cable and going purely dependent on MagSafe. Or maybe getting rid of the notch (which houses the selfie camera) completely in favour of an under-the-display camera. After all, they pulled the plug on the headphone jack. Those speculations will have to wait another year, at least.
What the iPhone 13s do provide across the board are improvements to screens, cameras and battery life. Once again there are two consumer models – including the bestselling base model – and two Pro models that offer the best features for those willing to part with top dollar.
All about the base
The base iPhone 13 and the mini come with improved and brighter OLED displays that will make the phones easier to see outside under the blazing sun. The notch at the top of the screen has also been shrunk by about a quarter, though that extra space isn’t really utilised.
A superficial difference between the iPhone 13 and the 12 series of phones, is the former’s redesigned rear camera layout with the lenses arranged diagonally because of the larger sensors.
Both the base model and the mini will benefit from camera technology that was only previously available on the iPhone 12 Pro Max. With the larger sensors, the Wide and the Ultra Wide cameras capture images with more detail in dark areas of photos and videos with less noise.
Apple has also put a lot of emphasis on Cinematic Mode, a new way to capture video that automatically changes focus, making it easier for anyone to capture cinema-style moments. Of course, despite how impressive that sounds, is it something the average user will use that often?
In that regard, the photographic styles feature will probably see more use as it lets users bring their personal photo preferences to every picture they take. Preset and custom options work across scenes and subjects, intelligently applying adjustments to different parts of the photo to ensure skin tones and other important elements are preserved.
With a larger battery, the iPhone 13 has enough power for up to two-and-a-half more hours of operation than the iPhone 12, while the iPhone 13 mini provides up to an hour and a half more power than its predecessor.
For the Pros (or the people with thicker wallets)
Finally, for the first time an iPhone will have a screen with higher refresh rate – something some Android phones have had for some time. Called ProMotion by Apple, the screens have an adaptive refresh rate up to 120Hz, making the day-to-day user experience faster and more responsive.
What makes it unique is that instead of operating at a high refresh rate all the time, the iPhone will go from 10Hz to 120Hz depending on what’s on the screen, helping to extend the battery life. Games and high frame rate videos will benefit the most, but just navigating from app to app and within apps feels a lot smoother.
The Pro and Pro Max models also come equipped with the most advanced camera system yet on an iPhone, featuring a new Ultra Wide camera with autofocus which enables macro photography, a new Wide camera, and a new Telephoto camera with increased 3x optical zoom.
This camera system can get even more out of Cinematic Mode, and the processing power of these phones means they are the only smartphones in the world to provide an end-to-end workflow (according to Apple) – allowing users to capture, edit, and share content all in one device.
What’s more, macro photography looks to be an exciting expansion of what a smartphone camera can do as it lets users capture sharp, stunning images of objects up close, letting them appear larger than life, by magnifying subjects with a minimum focus distance of 2cm.
The battery life of these phones also sounds quite impressive, with Apple promising the iPhone 13 Pro will last up to one and a half hours longer than the iPhone 12 Pro, and the iPhone 13 Pro Max will last up to two and a half hours longer than its predecessor.
Which to get?
The iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini are available in pink, blue, Midnight, Starlight, and Product(Red), while the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max are available in four shinier finishes, namely graphite, gold, silver, and the all-new Sierra Blue.
The iPhone 13 starts at RM3,899 and the iPhone 13 mini starts at RM3,399. Meanwhile, the Pro starts off at RM4,899 with the Pro Max at RM5,299. For the latter two, capacity can range from 128GB to 1TB. You’re gonna want more than the base memory so expect to pay more for that.
Stay tuned to The Vibes for in-depth reviews on the base model iPhone 13 (in comparison to the iPhone 12) and the iPhone 13 Pro Max in the coming weeks. – The Vibes, October 12, 2021
