If you’ve got to carry the very best tech, Apple’s new flagship iPhone 13 Pro offers a delectable array of features and functionality you probably can’t live without. Apple’s new iPhone 13 lineup comes in the standard 13, 13 mini, 13 Pro, and 13 Pro Max models. Because Gotta Have It focuses on bringing you the very best products on the market, we are focusing on the features of the Pro model in this review.
When compared to the standard and mini models, the Pro and Pro Max models give you a larger storage capacity option, a third camera lens (telephoto), surgical-grade stainless steel design (instead of aerospace-grade aluminum), a lidar scanner, ProMotion adaptive display refresh rate of up to 120Hz, improved battery life, ProRes video encoding, and extended battery life. These add up to some scrumptious advantages most tech-savvy buyers will consider a worthwhile upgrade.
When compared to the iPhone 12 Pro, Apple’s new offering features a wide assortment of enhancements. In terms of the display, the 13 Pro features a brighter display (1000 nits max typical brightness and compared to the iPhone 12 Pro’s 800 nits, although both could reach a max brightness of 1200 nits), the same ProMotion adaptive display refresh mentioned above, and a slightly smaller notch at the top of the display. The camera is an area where some major enhancements are evident. The aperture has been improved on all 3 of the lenses, to let in more light. The ultrawide lens now supports macro mode, which is a huge feature many will enjoy. The telephoto lens now offers 3x optical zoom, compared to the 12 Pro’s 2.5x. The telephoto also offers 15x digital zoom, instead of 10x digital zoom on the 12 Pro.
One of the biggest improvements in the new model is the addition of Cinema Mode. By leveraging the distance map generated from the built-in lidar sensor, the camera will blur out the background to create a new bokeh effect and focus on the prominent persons or objects in the frame. If the focal point shifts from one person or object to another, the camera will simulate a rack focus to shift the focus of the video. This is a powerful capability that anyone who likes to shot videos will appreciate.
Apple also upped the number of GPU cores from 4 to 5 on the newer model. Video gamers will see a major uptick in graphics rendering. When combined with the ProMotion adaptive screen refresh, this will provide much more robust responsiveness for action gameplay.
Everyone will benefit from the much improved and greatly appreciated longer battery life. The cost for extended battery life is a slight thinker and noticeably heavier phone. Yet, the benefits far outweigh the added weight (pun intended).
Before I offer my thoughts on who should upgrade to the new iPhone 13 Pro, you can watch my video review below.
Overall
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Design
(5)
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Build Quality
(5)
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Features
(5)
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Performance
(5)
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Warranty
(4)
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Price
(4)
User Review
( votes)Summary
The Apple iPhone 13 Pro is one of the most advanced and well-balanced smartphones on the market. This year’s offering provides not upgrades and enhancements across the display, cameras, processor, battery life, and much more. Anyone interested in photography, videography, or gaming will find the new features too good to pass up.
Pros
- Robust OLED Super Retina XDR display
- Faster, more responsive screen refresh with ProMotion
- Multiple improvements to the camera system (including faster larger lenses that let in much more light)
- Significantly upgraded A15 Bionic processor
- Much longer battery life!
- Brighter display (1200 nits in HDR)
- 5-core GPU offers 50% faster performance
- Macro photography and videography
- Cinema mode videos offer professional-looking quality
Cons
- The price of the Pro and Pro Max may be out of the reach of many
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Who’s Gotta Have It?
While most of these new capabilities follow the typical evolutionary improvements that roughly follow Moore’s Law, Apple has provided some revolutionary feature enhancements on the iPhone 13 Pro. This includes macro photography and videography, cinema mode rack focusing, and the ProMotion adaptive refresh rates.
So, who should consider upgrading to the iPhone 13 Pro? Anyone interested in photography, videography, and cinematography will see a major increase in their ability to express themselves creatively. Video gamers will see major improvements in the quality, speed, and responsiveness of gameplay. Early adaptors will have no difficulty justifying this upgrade. Anyone who is a few generations or more behind will see huge improvements across the board.
So, what do you think? Do you Gotta Have It? I certainly do, and did, and I have no regrets for pulling the trigger on this upgrade. The iPhone 13 Pro is tech in its most delicious state.
What’s Delicious
- Robust OLED Super Retina XDR display
- Faster, more responsive screen refresh with ProMotion
- Multiple improvements to the camera system (including faster larger lenses that let in much more light)
- Significantly upgraded A15 Bionic processor
- Much longer battery life!
- Brighter display (1200 nits in HDR)
- 5-core GPU offers 50% faster performance
- Macro photography and videography
- Cinema mode videos offer professional-looking quality
What’s Lackluster
- The price of the Pro and Pro Max may be out of the reach of many
iPhone 13 Pro Technical Specifications
Ceramic Shield front Textured matte glass back and stainless steel design
Ceramic Shield front Textured matte glass back and stainless steel design
- 128GB
- 256GB
- 512GB
- 1TB
- 128GB
- 256GB
- 512GB
- 1TB
- Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion
- 6.1‑inch (diagonal) all‑screen OLED display
- 2532‑by‑1170-pixel resolution at 460 ppi
The iPhone 13 Pro display has rounded corners that follow a beautiful curved design, and these corners are within a standard rectangle. When measured as a standard rectangular shape, the screen is 6.06 inches diagonally (actual viewable area is less).
- Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion
- 6.7‑inch (diagonal) all‑screen OLED display
- 2778‑by‑1284-pixel resolution at 458 ppi
The iPhone 13 Pro Max display has rounded corners that follow a beautiful curved design, and these corners are within a standard rectangle. When measured as a standard rectangular shape, the screen is 6.68 inches diagonally (actual viewable area is less).
- ProMotion technology with adaptive refresh rates up to 120Hz
- HDR display
- True Tone
- Wide color (P3)
- Haptic Touch
- 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio (typical)
- 1000 nits max brightness (typical); 1200 nits max brightness (HDR)
- Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating
- Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously
- A15 Bionic chip
- New 6‑core CPU with 2 performance and 4 efficiency cores
- New 5‑core GPU
- New 16‑core Neural Engine
- Pro 12MP camera system: Telephoto, Wide, and Ultra Wide cameras
- Telephoto: ƒ/2.8 aperture
- Wide: ƒ/1.5 aperture
- Ultra Wide: ƒ/1.8 aperture and 120° field of view
- 3x optical zoom in, 2x optical zoom out; 6x optical zoom range
- Digital zoom up to 15x
- Night mode portraits enabled by LiDAR Scanner
- Portrait mode with advanced bokeh and Depth Control
- Portrait Lighting with six effects (Natural, Studio, Contour, Stage, Stage Mono, High‑Key Mono)
- Dual optical image stabilization (Telephoto and Wide)
- Sensor‑shift optical image stabilization (Wide)
- Six‑element lens (Telephoto and Ultra Wide); seven‑element lens (Wide)
- True Tone flash with Slow Sync
- Panorama (up to 63MP)
- Sapphire crystal lens cover
- 100% Focus Pixels (Wide)
- Night mode
- Deep Fusion
- Smart HDR 4
- Photographic Styles
- Macro photography
- Apple ProRAW
- Wide color capture for photos and Live Photos
- Lens correction (Ultra Wide)
- Advanced red‑eye correction
- Photo geotagging
- Auto image stabilization
- Burst mode
- Image formats captured: HEIF and JPEG
- Cinematic mode for recording videos with shallow depth of field (1080p at 30 fps)
- HDR video recording with Dolby Vision up to 4K at 60 fps
- 4K video recording at 24 fps, 25 fps, 30 fps, or 60 fps
- 1080p HD video recording at 25 fps, 30 fps, or 60 fps
- 720p HD video recording at 30 fps
- ProRes video recording up to 4K at 30 fps (1080p at 30 fps for 128GB storage)*
- Dual optical image stabilization for video (Telephoto and Wide)
- Sensor‑shift optical image stabilization for video (Wide)
- 3x optical zoom in, 2x optical zoom out; 6x optical zoom range
- Digital zoom up to 9x
- Audio zoom
- True Tone flash
- QuickTake video
- Slo‑mo video support for 1080p at 120 fps or 240 fps
- Time‑lapse video with stabilization
- Night mode Time‑lapse
- Cinematic video stabilization (4K, 1080p, and 720p)
- Continuous autofocus video
- Take 8MP still photos while recording 4K video
- Playback zoom
- Video formats recorded: HEVC and H.264
- Stereo recording
- 12MP camera
- ƒ/2.2 aperture
- Portrait mode with advanced bokeh and Depth Control
- Portrait Lighting with six effects (Natural, Studio, Contour, Stage, Stage Mono, High‑Key Mono)
- Animoji and Memoji
- Night mode
- Deep Fusion
- Smart HDR 4
- Photographic Styles
- Apple ProRAW
- Cinematic mode for recording videos with shallow depth of field (in 1080p at 30 fps)
- HDR video recording with Dolby Vision up to 4K at 60 fps
- 4K video recording at 24 fps, 25 fps, 30 fps, or 60 fps
- 1080p HD video recording at 25 fps, 30 fps, or 60 fps
- ProRes video recording up to 4K at 30 fps (1080p at 30 fps for 128GB storage)*
- Slo‑mo video support for 1080p at 120 fps
- Time‑lapse video with stabilization
- Night mode Time‑lapse
- Cinematic video stabilization (4K, 1080p, and 720p)
- QuickTake video
- Wide color capture for photos and Live Photos
- Lens correction
- Retina Flash
- Auto image stabilization
- Burst mode
- Enabled by TrueDepth camera for facial recognition
- Pay with your iPhone using Face ID in stores, within apps, and on the web
- Send and receive money in Messages with Apple Cash4
- Complete purchases made with Apple Pay on your Mac
- Pay for your ride using Express Transit5
- Credit card created by Apple, designed for iPhone
- Get unlimited 3% Daily Cash at Apple and select merchants, 2% with Apple Pay, and 1% everywhere else
- Use the Wallet app to apply for, manage, and use Apple Card
- Titanium, laser‑etched physical credit card for use where Apple Pay is not accepted yet
- Share with up to five people, 13 years or older, in your Family Sharing group to track expenses, manage spending, and build credit together (for those over 18)6
- 5G NR (Bands n1, n2, n3, n5, n7, n8, n12, n20, n25, n28, n29, n30, n38, n40, n41, n48, n66, n71, n77, n78, n79)
- 5G NR mmWave (Bands n258, n260, n261)
- FDD-LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 32, 66, 71)
- TD-LTE (Bands 34, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 46, 48)
- CDMA EV-DO Rev. A (800, 1900 MHz)
- UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz)
- GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
- 5G NR (Bands n1, n2, n3, n5, n7, n8, n12, n20, n25, n28, n29, n30, n38, n40, n41, n48, n66, n71, n77, n78, n79)
- 5G NR mmWave (Bands n258, n260, n261)
- FDD-LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 32, 66, 71)
- TD-LTE (Bands 34, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 46, 48)
- CDMA EV-DO Rev. A (800, 1900 MHz)
- UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz)
- GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
- Built-in GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, and BeiDou
- Digital compass
- Wi‑Fi
- Cellular
- iBeacon microlocation
- FaceTime video calling over cellular or Wi‑Fi
- FaceTime HD (1080p) video calling over 5G or Wi‑Fi
- Share experiences like movies, TV, music, and other apps in a FaceTime call with SharePlay*
- Screen sharing*
- Portrait mode in FaceTime video
- Spatial audio
- Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum microphone modes
- Optical zoom with rear‑facing camera
- Audio formats supported: AAC‑LC, HE‑AAC, HE‑AAC v2, Protected AAC, MP3, Linear PCM, Apple Lossless, FLAC, Dolby Digital (AC‑3), Dolby Digital Plus (E‑AC‑3), Dolby Atmos, and Audible (formats 2, 3, 4, Audible Enhanced Audio, AAX, and AAX+)
- Spatial audio playback
- User‑configurable maximum volume limit
- Video formats supported: HEVC, H.264, MPEG‑4 Part 2, and Motion JPEG
- HDR with Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG
- Up to 4K HDR AirPlay for mirroring, photos, and video out to Apple TV (2nd generation or later) or AirPlay 2–enabled smart TV
- Video mirroring and video out support: Up to 1080p through Lightning Digital AV Adapter and Lightning to VGA Adapter (adapters sold separately)10
- Use your voice to send messages, set reminders, and more
- Activate hands‑free with only your voice using “Hey Siri”
- Use your voice to run shortcuts from your favorite apps
Volume up/down
Ring/Silent
Side button
Built‑in stereo speaker Built‑in microphone
Lightning connector
Built‑in microphones
Built‑in stereo speaker
- Wireless charging up to 15W13
- Magnet array
- Alignment magnet
- Accessory Identification NFC
- Magnetometer
- Face ID
- LiDAR Scanner
- Barometer
- Three‑axis gyro
- Accelerometer
- Proximity sensor
- Ambient light sensor
- iOS 15 iOS is the world’s most personal and secure mobile operating system, packed with powerful features and designed to protect your privacy.
- Voice Control
- VoiceOver
- Zoom
- Magnifier
- RTT and TTY support
- Siri and Dictation
- Type to Siri
- Switch Control
- Closed Captions
- AssistiveTouch
- Spoken Content
- Back Tap
- Pages, Numbers, Keynote, iMovie, GarageBand, Clips, and Apple Store app are preinstalled.
- Apple ID (required for some features)
- Internet access16
- Syncing to a Mac or PC requires:
- macOS Catalina 10.15 or later using the Finder
- macOS El Capitan 10.11.6 through macOS Mojave 10.14.6 using iTunes 12.8 or later
- Windows 7 or later using iTunes 12.10.10 or later (free download from itunes.com/download)
32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)
−4° to 113° F (−20° to 45° C)
5% to 95% noncondensing
tested up to 10,000 feet (3000 m)
- iPhone with iOS 15
- USB‑C to Lightning Cable
- Documentation
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