Now that Apple announced their new phones, everyone is focusing on all the specs and
updates of the iPhone 13’s, completely ignoring big features that were leaked,
patented, and more that we were looking forward to.
Now I’m also really excited for these phones, and some of these aren’t big deals,
but others would have been amazing to have and Apple is likely saving them
for the iPhone 14 models next year, so we have another reason to upgrade,
so today, lets go over all of them along with some really weird limitations of the iPhone 13’s.
The first one is the Notch. Apple has changed it for the first time and made it much more narrow
this year, so much so that it's actually slightly taller. Overall its 20% smaller which gives us
a bit more screen real estate, especially on the right and left side of the notch.
Unfortunately, for some reason they aren’t making any use of this extra space, and we’re
still limited to seeing a less detailed battery indicator and having to swipe down into control
center to see the percentage when there is clearly enough space to add this info or something else.
Hopefully Apple will fix this with a software update and allow us to make
use of the extra space that we’re paying for by having a taller notch this year.
Now we had another authentication method not only rumored for the iPhone 13,
but backed up by two patents that Apple received, and that under display fingerprint scanner.
Face ID is amazing and very convenient, but there are times fingerprint scanners work better
and some people just prefer them. Info came out that Apple actually tested iPhone 13’s
with in screen touch id, but as we know the iPhone 13’s didn’t end up receiving them.
It seems like Apple is still planning on implementing this, but only for future iPhones
and they decided to work on under display face ID for higher end iPhone
and to use under display touch id for the lower end models once they get rid of the notch,
so if you’re someone that wanted touch id on a Pro iPhone, it likely won’t ever happen.
Another one that likely won’t ever happen is getting a better charging port in iPhones. We
had rumors of USB-C coming to the iPhone Pro’s, to make it line up with most other Apple products,
but nope apple still stuck with lighting all while changing their second cheapest iPad to USB-C.
By this point we can pretty much bet that USB-C will never hit iPhones or
else Apple would have done it by now, but the other rumor also didn’t show,
and that's the Portless iPhone 13, at least on the largest Pro Max model.
A completely wireless iPhone was apparently planned for the highest end iPhone in 2021,
and it would make sense to start out with the Pro models but it looks like
Apple is holding off which I’m personally really happy about because of another thing
that unfortunately didn’t come to light with the iPhone 13’s
which I was really looking for, and that is better magsafe connectivity and charging.
Not only did we get rumors of this, but actual FCC filings which reveal a new Magsafe unit. The
filing doesn’t give us too much info but Apple did test it with both 20 watt and 30 watt adapters.
As we know, if you’re using a 20 watt adapter with the current magsafe puck you’ll achieve a
max output of 15 watts so about a 75% efficiency, so 30 watt would give us 22.5W or possibly up to
25 watt wireless fast charging if they improved efficiency with the new coild, which would make
it even faster than using wired charging and be enough to make a fully wireless iPhone possible.
But unfortunately nope, we’re still stuck with lightning instead of usb-c
and even though the battery in the iPhone 13 Pro Max is 18% larger than last years,
and even the wired 20W adapter can no longer charge the phone to 50% in 30 min Magsafe charging
isn’t any faster like it was rumored to be, so at this point it will take more
than twice as long to wirelessly fast charge the 13 Pro Max than using a wired charger.
With that, the first reviews are coming out and the newer stronger magsafe magnets are
nowhere to be seen in these new iPhone 13’s. This is something that I was really excited
for so I’d have a stronger grip for my wallet with the 13’s and to hold up my
phone better with my magsafe mounts for my car and truck, and stronger magnets would
be very helpful because these new iPhones have gotten a lot heavier than last year.
The smaller 13 Pro with its 6.1 inch display now weighs the same exact as the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
with its 6.9” display, and the Pro Max is getting closer to the Fold 3,
meaning they’ll have a harder time holding onto mounted accessories.
Thankfully cases can help, like this new slim 13 Pro Max carbon fiber case from Pitaka which
I’ve been testing with my 12 Pro Max, and the slim magnet they’ve put in here is the strongest I’ve
ever tested. They're not a sponsor but I’ll go ahead and link them in the description.
The next missing feature that should have came with the iPhone 13’s is
the always on display. Android phones have had this for years
and many expected always on screens since iPhones got OLED screens with the iPhone X but nope.
This year was special though, because Apple switched to more power efficient LTPO screens
that can now go all the way down to 10hz saving a lot of battery life. With that,
battery sizes also got larger and the A15 and new modem chip are both more power efficient
so this year would be the perfect one to add always on displays but nope.
Even though Apple offered them for a few years on their Apple watches and this year they’ve gotten
even brighter indoors with the Series 7. This is another feature that is just software related so
Apple could have easily added it, but I guess it's just another thing that they might be
saving for the iPhone 14 since we got a fair bit of incremental updates this year.
The next feature is something that was huge news
before the 13’s launch and it was a feature that would set the iPhone apart
from any other smartphone, and that is support for Satellite connectivity.
Kuo and Bloomberg both reported on this being a feature that could allow you to connect in places
without cellular service. I’ve found myself in this spot many times and it truly does suck
especially if you have an emergency, and it would allow for you to send messages through satellite.
There's still a chance that this could be enabled in the future through software if
the iPhone 13’s new modems have the hardware but I would think Apple would at least talk about this
if it was possible, so we’ll have to see if this is the
case after we get some teardowns and more info on which modem is in the new lineup.
With that we have Wi-Fi 6E which would have been great even if it was available for just the pro
models. Samsungs S21 Ultra has support for it even though hit came out about 9 months ago,
and it allows for the new 6Ghz band to be used along with the standard 2.4 and 5Ghz bands.
Almost everyone has Wi-Fi routers now so there is so much traffic going around
that can integers with each other and this new band will be like getting an
open freeway while everyone else is in stop and go traffic, and since most people keep
their phones for years it would have been great to see it in these phones but nope.
The same thing goes for Bluetooth. While the S21 ultra has Bluetooth
5.2 now which have many improvements iPhone is still stuck on Bluetooth
5.0 that uses more power, has more interference issues, and lacks new features.
One thing we really wanted to see is an implementation of Lossless Audio
over wireless, since Apple has been really pushing lossless in Apple music
and the quality difference over Spotify made my sign up for Apple music again.
We know it's possible because Qualcomm showed off their lossless audio over bluetooth with aptX
Lossless, but of course Apple doesn’t support the previous AptX codec either so they would
need their own solution, but if they’re sticking to Bluetooth 5.0 the hardware
simply isn’t there and there is no hope for the upcoming airpods 3
to allow for lossless so I guess we’ll have to wait longer.
One feature that we know is there but we’re not allowed to use is reverse wireless charging. I
was thinking Apple would finally allow us to use it outside of the Magsafe battery Pack
since we have larger batteries but nope not yet. Lets hope that with AirPods 3
they roll out a software update to finally let us utilize the full hardware in these phones.
The last one are cameras. Apple made a huge deal about them at their even with larger sensors,
new lenses and software, but the selfie camera was unchanged. Personally I’d love a cut down
version of the centerstage camera they’re putting into most of their tablets now,
so something with a wider field of view that can crop for selfies and facetimes.
The 12MP camera and lens are identical, so let's hope that Smart HDR 4 will make a big
enough difference to catch Apple up to Samsung which has been killing them in selfie quality.
We’ll know soon enough when we get our hands on the iPhone 13’s on Friday and put
the camera to the test in our blind camera comparisons which are always a ton of fun
and show the true difference between phones without any bias.
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this has been Max and I’ll see you in the next video!