Now that it’s been around 3 months since the release of the iPhone 12, we now know
for sure that it’s a super cycle upgrade, with Apple selling more iPhones last quarter
than ever before. Literally record breaking iPhone sales thanks to the new iPhone 12.
So we obviously know that it’s a great phone, with new features like 5G, the updated modern-looking
design, MagSafe charging, and of course, the crazy fast 5nm A14 Bionic chip which helps
give us killer camera performance.
So thanks to all of that, it’s definitely tempting to upgrade to one of these new iPhone
12 models, but in this video, we’re gonna be talking about the iPhone 13, which some
people actually believe will be called the iPhone 12S, but regardless of the name, let’s
get into all of the leaks and rumors.
We’re gonna split these up into a couple of difference categories, like the changes
that’ll happen to the entire iPhone lineup, the biggest changes we can most likely expect
on the Pro models, and the absolutely massive changes that have a smaller chance of actually
happening this year.
Starting off with lineup wide leaks and rumors, I want to mention that the iPhone 13 lineup
will most likely stay the same, with 4 different models. However, there have been many recent
reports that the iPhone 12 mini has been performing the worst in terms of sales, so i wonder if
there’s a chance that Apple will scrap it for next year, but I highly doubt that.
But I personally believe that the design of the new iPhone 13 lineup will be unchanged,
looking practically identical to the 12 series. We might see a small change in terms of the
camera bump or something like that, but don’t expect any major changes.
But moving onto more lineup-wide leaks and rumors, DigiTimes claimed that the new sensor-shift
stabilization that’s currently available on only the iPhone 12 Pro Max is gonna be
coming to the entire iPhone 13 lineup.
Now that is extremely exciting because I’ve been testing out that new stabilization and
it’s absolutely incredible. It literally looks like I recorded these video clips using
a gimbal, but I’m simply holding the 12 Pro Max in my hands.
If the entire iPhone 13 lineup got this, it would be awesome for those who don’t want
to get a Pro model, and it would likely mean that the sensor itself would be improved as
well, like it is on the 12 Pro Max, and another publication: ETNews also reported the same
thing, so there’s a good chance this could happen.
Another awesome feature that’s rumored to be coming to the entire lineup is actually
the LiDAR scanner that’s currently only available on the iPhone 12 Pro models.
Honestly, I thought this feature would be kind of a gimmick because it wasn’t really
that exciting on the iPad Pro, but it’s honestly a game changer in terms of camera
quality.
I’ve recently noticed that portrait mode photos have been getting better and better,
with the depth map being much more accurate in terms of the blur edging and also the depth
of field effect as it gets further and further away from the foreground.
Not only that, but it greatly helps for autofocusing for night mode photos, where the iPhone 11
Pro really struggled with focus hunting, and the 12 Pro no longer does thanks to LiDAR.
To my surprise, it also helped for video autofocus as well. Just check out this clip compared
to a couple of older iPhones which really struggle to catch focus. No problem at all
on the 12 Pro.
So if LiDAR comes to every single iPhone 13, Apple’s camera performance in general is
gonna skyrocket.
Another feature that everyone has been waiting for for years is a smaller notch, and it looks
like it just might happen on the iPhone 13 lineup.
Way back in October, Ice Universe on twitter claimed that the iPhone 13 will have a shorter
notch, and then he posted this sketch to show how it’ll change, so that’s very exciting
because the notch has stayed the same for years!
And then about a month ago, Mac Otakara also reported that the iPhone 13 will have a thinner
notch because the receiver at the top of the display will move toward the edge of the case.
This might actually mean that Apple will also upgrade the performance of Face ID as well
to make it faster, since it hasn’t really improved much in years.
And that’s actually what we saw in some other leaks from Digitimes, claiming that
Face ID will get a new VCSEL chip which reduces volume and improves depth sensing capabilities,
so that’s exciting!
Another lineup-wide rumor came back in December, when Barclays reported that the iPhone 13
will come with support for WiFi 6E, which is very important because it uses a brand
new 6GHz band which leads to better performance, lower latency and faster data rates.
The executie chipmaker and broadcom even mentioned that this will be the most disruptive boon
for WiFi users in the last 20 years, so I guess it’s gonna be really good, and this
rumor was confirmed once again in January, so there’s a good chance we should see it
on the iPhone 13 lineup!
Moving on, there is another very exciting rumor from around a week ago. Both Barclays
and Ming-chi Kuo reported that every Phone 13 model is expected to come with an upgraded
ultra wide camera with significantly improved low-light performance.
This is actually one of my biggest gripes with Apple’s current Ultra-wide lens. Because
of the F2.4 aperture, you get a ton of noise when taking video with the ultrawide lens,
which happens to be my favorite lens for video, but I don’t use it unless the environment
is super bright, because of that noise issue.
The new rumors are pointing to Apple switching to an F1.8 aperture which is slightly worse
than the F1.6 aperture on the wide lens which is excellent for low light, but F1.8 is extremely
impressive for an ultra wide lens, and this will greatly help for camera quality.
Now you may have noticed that all of those have to do with the camera performance, and
that’s because the iPhone 12 was a super cycle, and Apple usually focuses on camera
upgrades the following year, so there’s a good chance we’ll see all of these upgrades
happen.
Now within that same report from Barclays, they also mentioned that the 2.5x zoom lens
that’s exclusive to the 12 Pro Max will likely come down to the 13 Pro model, so I
wonder if Apple will give some other new exclusive feature to the 13 Pro Max, but I guess we’ll
see.
And now I wanna move to the absolute biggest changes that will most likely only come to
the Pro models, so let’s get right into it.
We’ve all been waiting years for Apple to bring 120hz refresh rate to the iPhone, and
it looks like it’s finally gonna happen!
Back in October, Jon Prosser reported that 120hz was for sure coming to the iPhone 13
Pro models, since it almost made it onto the iPhone 12 Pro but unfortunately it didn’t
due to battery life concerns.
And then in December, the analyst Ross Young reported that 120hz is finally coming to the
iPhone 13 Pro models, thanks to the adoption of LTPO OLED display technology.
This is exciting because it would also allow for variable refresh rate, like Apple currently
uses in the iPad Pro, and it would also allow for an always-on display, which would be greatly
welcomed on the iPhone.
And then a month later, in January, The Elec also reported that 120hz is coming to the
Pro models, so it’s looking like we should see this feature for sure, and it’s the
one feature I’ve been asking for for years!
Getting even more exciting, way back in October, the reliable leaker Lovetodream tweeted out
that MESA uts is coming to the iPhone, and then Jon Prosser translated it as under the
screen Touch ID coming!
Then in December, Ming-chi Kuo also added to that rumor, saying that Apple is working
on an iPhone with both Face ID and under-display Touch ID, which is likely the iPhone 13.
And then in January, Mark Gurman from Bloomberg said that Apple is testing an in-screen fingerprint
reader, and he’s a very reliable leaker.
And then it happened again! Joanna Stern from the Wall Street Journal said basically the
same thing, so I’ve gotta say this is looking more and more likely to happen, especially
since an under-display fingerprint sensor was also rumored to be coming to this years’
Apple Watch Series 7.
This next rumor is actually very interesting, Ming Chi Kuo reported that Apple is aggressively
testing vapor chamber thermal systems for the iPhone.
This basically involves a heat pipe filled with water that evaporates to help cool the
chip better than a regular heatsink.
I believe this is extremely important because the current A4 chip in the iPhone 12 is already
being throttled in terms of performance.
We know this because the same exact A14 chip in the much larger iPad Air 4 is able to stay
cool and it performs much better in terms of graphics power, so this shows that the
iPhone is currently hitting a performance wall, which is really bad for the iPhone 13,
so Apple absolutely NEEDS better cooling if they want to continue improving performance.
In fact, I played Genshin Impact on both the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the new Galaxy S21 Ultra,
and the display greatly dimmed on the iPhone after around 10-15 minutes of gameplay at
maxed out graphics settings, whereas the Galaxy was totally fine.
So because of that, I think there’s a decent chance that we’ll see some form of that
coming this year, but maybe only on the Pro models.
And now, we have the final rumor, which is perhaps the most controversial one of all.
Way back in December of 2019, Ming Chi kuo reported that Apple would launch an iPhone
without a Lightning port in 2021, saying that it would only be the highest-end model, which
will be the 13 Pro Max.
A few months later, Jon Prosser basically said the same thing, one portless iPhone coming
in 2021.
And then on top of that, there were a bunch of patents that Apple applied for showing
off a new connector for the iPhone replacing the Lightning port, and there was even one
that looked like a magnetic MagSafe wired connector, and I did a whole video on that
if you’re interested.
On top of that, we did see some leaks from Fudge claiming that the 2021 iPhone will have
some sort of smart connector replacing Lightning, which will use magnets to charge.
But other than that, we haven’t really seen much else about Apple ditching Lightning,
so it might not happen this year.
That basically wraps up all of the leaks and rumors we currently have for the iPhone 13,
and now let’s finally answer the original question, should you buy the current iPhone
12 or wait until September for the new ones?
Well, we already know that the 12 was a supercycle, so the design of the 13 will more than likely
stay the same, and the A15 chip won’t give us a huge bump in performance since it’s
still using the 5nm architecture.
But if you really really care about 120hz refresh rate, a smaller notch, or the flurry
of camera upgrades now coming to the entire iPhone 13 lineup, then I would definitely
say that it’s worth waiting!
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