Hey guys, whatsup, welcome back to the channel. So last week Apple held their usual September
event and released some new iPhones as well as some new iPads. If you haven’t seen my
hands on with the new iPad mini then definitely go and check that out here, but in this video
we’re going to be talking about the new iPhones.
As before we have four models of the iPhone 13, the standard, the mini, the Pro and the
Pro Max. Personally I’m happy they’ve kept the
iPhone mini in the lineup as it seems like so many people are enjoying having a smaller
device in their pockets at a slightly cheaper price. It’s not for the enthusiasts but
for the everyday user who wants something a bit less bulky it’s perfect!
In terms of options the iPhone 13 starts at $699 or £679 and is configurable up to 512GB.
It comes in 5 colours; Pink, Blue, Midnight, Starlight and Red.
And finally for the pro that starts at $999 or £949, which is now configurable up to
1TB. And comes in 4 colours; Sierra Blue, Silver, Gold and Graphite.
So what I’ve got here is the iPhone 13 pro in Sierra Blue and the iPhone 13 mini in Midnight.
So let’s look at the unboxing next and I’m going to start with the mini
Notice how there’s no plastic wrap around the boxes which is something new for Apple
this year. They claim they’ve saved 600 tons of plastic by doing this which is another
great step in the right direction. So in the box you literally just get the phone,
the USB-C to lightning cable, and the instructions and stickers as well.
So let’s just show you what the phone itself is like...
And wow this midnight finish is really nice. I’m actually really happy with that. it’s
essentially a matte black finish but with a very subtle blue tint to it in certain lights
which I actually really like vs the standard space grey we’re used to seeing from apple.
The best thing about this mini model though is just this size, just look at how small
that is which is pretty awesome if you don’t want something big and bulky in your pocket.
Okay so let’s unbox the iPhone pro now... So as before you get the phone itself, the
instructions and a usb-c to lightning cable. So let’s have a look at the phone now...
That colour is awesome wow. That is really really nice. Let me just grab the iPhone 12
so you guys can see the pacific blue vs the Sierra blue. I mean I think they are both
awesome colours but the Sierra blue is a really nice update.
So let’s talk about design now and I guess the first thing to say is that it’s actually
pretty much the same footprint as the iPhone 12 with the 13 being ever so slightly thicker.
And just to illustrate that, here’s my iPhone 12 Pro which as you can see is a barely noticeable
difference. One of the
most noticeable differences is the new cameras on the back which are larger
this year which you can see here and they’re also better cameras. It’s a bigger sensor
to let in almost 50% more light, and faster apertures across the range as well so that
also goes for the mini vs the previous mini. And on the mini the cameras are now on the
diagonal rather than the vertical layout we’ve seen before and that’s probably to make
more room for these larger camera sensors. In fact the other interesting thing about
these new cameras is that the primary sensors across the entire iPhone 13 range now have
image stabilisation on the primary sensor, which previously was only available for the
iPhone 12 Pro max. On the front we have a slightly smaller camera
notch which you can see here in comparison to the 12.
And on the bottom of course we still have the lightning port which I mean, c’mon Apple,
I think it’s time we saw the switch to USB-C now.
Apart from those small design tweaks the overall design is the same. We still have the squared
off aluminium edges on the mini, and the surgical grade Stainless steel on the pro, and then
on the back we still have the matte glass for both as well which I really like.
One small thing to note as well is that the antennas on the side are now made from recycled
plastic bottles which is an awesome nod to sustainability again from Apple.
So aside from the design most of the updates for the 13 actually come on the inside of
the phone. We now have the A15 bionic chip across the
board which means a 5core CPU in the pro and a 4 core CPU in standard, so performance for
both the standard and the pro will be improved. There’s also improved battery life up to
2.5hrs longer depending on which model you get, which is good news for the mini especially
which needed a battery boost for sure. Aside from that the OLED screens across the
board are 25% brighter which means 625 nits on the regular models and up to 1200 nits
on the pro model And this brings us nicely onto one of the
biggest updates for the pro which is of course the new 120 hertz display, made possible by
a technology which actually already exists in the iPad pro called promotion. Promotion
tech if you haven’t heard of it before allows the refresh rate of the screen to change dynamically
depending on your usage, in that way, delivering maximum performance when you need it, but
conserving battery life when you don’t. So that’s going to just mean a much snappier
display all round which you’ll probably notice more for things like gaming, scrolling
or flicking between apps. The second big update is a new video version
of portrait mode dubbed cinematic video which features something called TrueDepth. This
new mode essentially allows you to shoot with a shallow depth of field. If you don’t know
what I mean by depth of field, it’s the reason you see blurry backgrounds on high
quality camera when the foreground is in focus. This is obviously something that’s been
available in portrait mode for a while now but it’s great to see it arrive to video
finally. What’s also cool is that apple is now using AI to anticipate when a prominent
subject is in focus so it will change focus automatically which is pretty cool, as well
as allowing you to edit the bokeh in post. Also in terms of the camera there’s a new
ProRes capability which means if you’re someone that uses your iPhone for filming
high quality video you can now shoot in ProRes which essentially means you are retaining
more of the original footage data so you can edit more easily your end image. For most
people this is going to be totally irrelevant but for people like me who do shoot some footage
on my iPhone for YouTube then that’s pretty cool. It also explains why there’s now a
1TB option for the iPhone because ProRes means larger file sizes. And by the way a quick
side note on that, ProRes 4k recording is not available in the 128GB option so just
be aware of that if you do want this feature. On other thing to mention briefly is apple’s
new photographic styles which apple are claiming to be much more accurate at handling tone
and warmth settings than filters. So that’s pretty cool and I’m looking forward to playing
around with that some more. Okay guys so those are the big headline updates
for the iPhone 13 vs the 12 and as you can see it's essentially very similar to the 12
in terms of specs with a very minor design tweak.
A couple of things we still don’t have for the iPhone which is a little disappointing…
we are still on 20w charging, we don’t have any reverse charging, we still don’t have
USB-C, and we still have 12 megapixel cameras although in my experience the iPhone still
has the best camera of any smartphone.
So guys in summary I suppose given these updates you’re probably wondering whether you should
get one of these and it’s a tricky question to answer.
I think if you’re a pro user and you’re going to enjoy the 120hz screen and improved
cameras then it might be worth upgrading from the 12 pro.
On the other hand, if you’re just a day to day user then there’s not a lot of new
news here vs the 12 apart from some colour tweaks which is a bit disappointing from Apple
so I’m not sure it makes much sense to upgrade. So for both these models I don’t think I
can recommend upgrading from the 12. It sort of only really makes sense if you’re coming
at it new or if you’re coming from an iPhone 10 or 11 because then you’ll see significant
upgrades. I do really like the mini though... I think
it’s definitely the one I’d go for if I didn’t need the pro features and with
the slightly improved battery I think its going to be a popular option. Also at $699
this is now a really good entry level iPhone that has pretty much all the features most
people would need, so that’s also a really great price if you’re on a tight budget.
It’s also worth considering that for the cost of the pro you could buy a pair of AirPods
Pro and an iPhone mini, so that’s pretty cool.
So guy’s that’s it for this video. Remember to watch my iPad mini video for my
thoughts on that and also to subscribe to the channel if you enjoyed the video as it
really helps me out. Thanks again for watching and I’ll see you
guys next time.