iPhone 13 Review: Get The iPhone 12 At Discounted Price Instead!

The iPhone 13 in terms of design looks exactly like the iPhone 12 and one can’t differentiate between the two by just looking at it. This can be touted as the “S” upgrades that we have seen previously with iPhone and not a full-fledged generation upgrade that we see every year from Apple.

The new iPhone 13 features the same display as last year’s iPhone 12 with minor improvements in peak brightness. And the new A15 Bionic chipset is more powerful than ever, with better battery endurance and better performance. The camera system has also seen a significant upgrade with better sensors capturing more light in challenging light situations.

I have been using the iPhone 13 for quite a few days now and I loved my experience. Here is my iPhone 13 Review and I hope this can help you make your buying decision.

The iPhone 13 is available to buy right now and pricing for iPhone 13 starts at Rs.79,900 for the 128 GB variant and goes up to Rs. 1,09,900 for the 512 GB variant. You can order the phone online from Apple’s official website as well as from Amazon, Flipkart and other online and offline sellers. 

The iPhone 13 is available in Pink, Blue, Midnight, Starlight, and (PRODUCT) RED colour variants and here is the pricing of all the storage variants of iPhone 13:

• iPhone 13 128GB – Rs. 79,900
• iPhone 13 256GB – Rs. 89,900
• iPhone 13 512GB – Rs. 1,09,900

Here’s what we have inside the box of iPhone 13:

• USB-C to the lightning port charging cable
• iPhone 13 device
• Documentation

This year Apple has even eliminated the plastic wraps around the iPhone 13 boxes to save plastics.

Let’s talk about the on-paper specifications of the iPhone 13 Pro at first:

• Display: 15.49 cm (6.1 inch) Super Retina XDR OLED Display
• Camera: 12MP + 12MP | 12MP Front Camera
• Battery: Li-Ion 3240 mAh Battery with 20W fast-charging
• Chipset: A15 Bionic Processor
• RAM & ROM: 4 GB RAM | 128 GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB ROM
• Dimensions: 146.7 x 71.5 x 7.7 mm
• Weight: 174 grams

At first glance, it would be difficult to differentiate the iPhone 13 from the iPhone 12. The phone has the same flat design, similar bezels and the same camera setup at the rear with a slightly smaller notch at the front.

Unlike the Pro models that come with stainless steel bands and matte glass-back, the iPhone 13 comes with a glossy finish. This certainly gives the device a premium feel unlike many of the plasticky Android devices. The plus side of not having steel bands and using aluminium instead of stainless steel is that the phone is lighter than the Pro models. It weighs 173 grams while the iPhone 13 Pro weighs 203 grams and you certainly feel the difference of 30 grams. Similar to its predecessor the iPhone 13 is just easier to hold and move around in your hand than the Pro version. 

This year’s iPhone 13 series comes in a choice of five colours Pink, Blue, Starlight, Midnight, and Product Red. The model I was playing around with had a Pink finish but rather than being flashy this light pastel shade looks grown-up and the sides could almost be mistaken for rose gold. 

The diagonal mounting of dual cameras feels much more pleasing to the eye and balanced than the previous vertical alignment. The camera bump is significantly larger but is disguised by the fact that the bump is completely see-through. 

On the front of the phone, the camera notch is clearly smaller at least in terms of horizontal width. Apple has achieved this by making the speaker grill longer and thinner and moving it to the very top of the sensors rather than dividing them. As an end result, you get the battery, Wi-Fi, and network signal fractionally larger and doesn’t seem as squished in. While it doesn’t seem to have any other advantages, it doesn’t really offend me either. 

Many of the leaks for the iPhone 13 series predicted that the company would switch to USB C charging as the iPad Air, iPad Mini, and MacBook have it in the recent releases. However, this isn’t the case for this year and the iPhone 13 keeps the lighting connector which means that your old charges and accessories will still work. 

I have been using iPhones over the years and have to say that the iPhone 13 is the perfect size for me. While I love the screen size of the Pro Max models and pocket-friendly iPhone Mini, the 6.1-inch display is big enough to enjoy video and web browsing. You can still hold the phone comfortably and reach anywhere with one hand.