After months of rumors, Apple has finally announced the iPhone 13, succeeding the tech giant's iPhone 12 series, which was released last year.
The iPhone 13 has a design similar to its predecessor, but this year's iteration offers a slimmer Face ID notch on the top of the smartphone. Like the iPad Mini that was announced earlier during today's event, the iPhone 13 is powered by the A15 Bionic chip. Apple notes that the A15 is a 5nm chip and is a 6-core CPU — two of those are high-performance, and the other is four high-efficiency cores.
The iPhone 13 Mini offers a 5.4inch screen, while the iPhone 13 includes a 6.1-inch OLED screen. While the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max models offer 6.1 and 6.7-inch OLED screens, the Pro models also include a higher refresh rate at 120Hz. If you wanted a high refresh rate Apple device, you had to purchase the iPad Pro, which offers a 120Hz refresh rate as well.
As expected from a smartphone refresh, Apple is introducing a lot of changes and improvements to the camera. The main camera features a 12MP wide-angle lens with a larger 1.7µm that can capture 50% more light, offering better dynamic range and better low-light photography.
The Ultrawide camera features a larger f2.4 aperture, and the cameras support a new cinematic mode, allowing you to rack focus between subjects while shooting video. While the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max will also have the ability to film up to 4K resolution at 30 frames per second in ProRes, which is a video format of a higher quality and provides video editors more leverage on editing footage capture on the smartphone.
As far as battery life goes, Apple says the iPhone 13 is improved compared to its predecessor, though mileage may vary. iPhone 13 Mini is anticipated to have a longer run time of 90 minutes, while the regular-sized iPhone is expected to last 2.5 hours longer than the iPhone 12. Apple claims the iPhone 13 Pro will last up to one and a half hours long in a day than the iPhone 12 Pro, while the iPhone 13 Pro Max is expected to last two and a half hours long in a day than the 12 Pro Max smartphone.
As with the iPhone 12 series, the iPhone 13 line will offer 5G support. Apple promises that the 5G performance will be improved from last year's lineup and supposedly support 200 carriers across more than 60 countries and regions by the end of 2021.
The iPhone 13 will include four models: iPhone 13 Mini, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPhone 13 Pro Max, with a starting price of $699. The more affordable iPhone 13 models include three storage configurations: 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB. If you are purchasing an iPhone 13 Pro or Pro Max model, you have the option to buy a 1TB storage configuration.
The iPhone 13 line will be available for preorder beginning Friday, September 17, and will release on September 24.
Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
