Yesterday, Apple introduced the 2021 iPhone line including the iPhone 13. Just like last year, there are four models. At the entry-level, there is the iPhone 13 and the virtually identical but smaller iPhone 13 mini. For an additional $200, you can move up to the pro line, which includes the iPhone 13 Pro and the virtually identical but larger iPhone 13 Pro Max. These look to be fantastic iPhones that will help lawyers or anyone else who wants to get serious work done with an iPhone. And with the improved screens and cameras, this iPhone will be just as enjoyable when you are using it outside of work.
Build upon the iPhone 12
Before getting into what is new in the iPhone 13 line, I want to talk about three features that are the same as the iPhone 12. I start here because while some folks (like me) get a new iPhone every year, most people wait at least two years between upgrades. For example, if you plan to upgrade from an iPhone 11, then you will get all of the advantages of the iPhone 12 along with the iPhone 13. So here are three highlights from the iPhone 12 that I love and which remain in the iPhone 13.
Design. I raved about the design of the iPhone 12 when Apple first showed it off last year, and for the past year, I have loved it. The flat sides on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 make the iPhone so much easier to hold in your hand. Before the iPhone 12, I always had to keep my iPhone in a case; otherwise, with the curved sides, it was too easy to drop. But thanks to the flat edges, I always feel like I have a much better grip on my iPhone 12. I still own a case, but I probably only use it about 10% of the time. Most of the time, I can avoid the extra bulk of using a case. Also, I like that it is easier for me to slip an iPhone in and out of a pocket without a case.
Note that there is one minor difference in the design of the iPhone 13 versus the iPhone 12: the notch at the top of the screen is somewhat smaller. I suppose that is nice, but I'll have to try one for a while to decide if this slight increase in usable screen space is noticeably better.
More screen. The new design also means smaller bezels and more usable screen space.
5G. Although Apple heavily promoted 5G in last year's iPhone, the reality is that 5G only rarely makes a difference, for the reasons that I discussed last year in this post. Having said that, there were definitely times during the past year when I appreciated having 5G. For example, just a few weeks ago when I was struggling to get a cell signal after Hurricane Ida in New Orleans, I often found that the 5G network was easier to access than the LTE network. Moreover, while one of my main criticisms of 5G last year was that it wasn't widely available, I know that is starting to improve. Thus, while 5G was somewhat of a gimmick last year, this year I think it will start to make a difference. And if you plan to purchase an iPhone 13 and use it for two or more years, it makes sense to get 5G now so that you can use it even more as the service improves in the future.
So those are the features from last year that will be just as impressive this year. Here are the new features in the iPhone 13 that I think that professional users will really love.
Faster
The first new feature in the iPhone 13 is the feature that we see virtually every time that a new iPhone is announced: a better processor. This year, Apple introduced a chip it is calling the A15 Bionic. Yesterday, Apple gave lots of technical details on why this new chip is better, discussing things like the billions of transistors, the 6-core architecture, and the neural engine. Suffice it to say that it is faster.
This matters for two reasons. First, a faster iPhone is a more responsive iPhone, so you can get work done on an iPhone without feeling like you are waiting for it to catch up with you. Second, the better processor allows Apple to introduce features that couldn't exist in the past because it would have been too slow on the prior versions of the chips. (This includes, for example, some of the camera improvements discussed below.)
Battery life
Every iPhone 13 model provides better battery life than the similar model of the iPhone 12. In part, this is because the physical battery is larger. In part, this is because the more A15 Bionic processor is more efficient.
Specifically, the iPhone 13 mini and the iPhone 13 Pro get an extra 1.5 hours of battery life versus the iPhone 12 mini and the iPhone 12 Pro. The iPhone 13 and the iPhone 13 Pro Max get an extra 2.5 hours of battery life. These are substantial improvements that should come in handy whenever you have a long day, when you are taking lots of video with your iPhone, or if you forget to recharge your iPhone overnight and are trying to stretch a second day of life out of the battery.
Note that the iPhone 13 models are slightly heavier and thicker than the iPhone 12 models, although I'm not yet sure how noticeable that change is. Those increases may be necessary to support the larger battery.
Better camera
Apple knows that while "phone" may take up five of the six letters in iPhone, for most folks, it is the camera, not the phone, that is the most important part of the iPhone. As a result, Apple tries to improve the camera every year by using both better hardware and by using smarter software that takes advantage of the improved processing power. This year, it looks like Apple has made some great improvements to the camera.
First, the rear-facing camera has been improved to allow 47% more light to reach the image sensor, and the image sensor itself is larger. This helps make all pictures better, but it especially helps when lighting conditions are not perfect, such as when you taking a picture inside or at night.
Apple also has a new software feature called Photographic Styles that takes advantage of the A15 Bionic to let you select a look that you prefer for the pictures that you take. I'll need to try this out to really understand it, but here is how Jason Snell of Six Colors described this new feature: "Think of Photographic Styles this way: Apple is opening up its image-capture pipeline and making it adjustable for the first time. It offers four different presets that capture images in different ways, creating different styles. You can pick which one you want to use, and then all your previews and photos will use that style. Like warm images? Set a style, and everything you shoot on your phone will be that warm." Additionally, improved High Dynamic Range (HDR) makes pictures look more lifelike.
A particularly impressive new software feature for taking video is called Cinematic mode. This creates a depth effect in your video so that your subject is in focus but items in the background are slightly out of focus, just like in a movie. Better yet, the iPhone can automatically change the focus when appropriate. Apple showed a demo in which the video was focused on a person in the foreground, but that person then turned their head to look at a second person in the background, and that caused the video to automatically switch the focus to the person at the rear. Also, Apple says that you can adjust the focus after you take the video – a truly impressive feat that I cannot wait to put through its paces.
Pro models
Last year, there were two primary differences between the "regular" iPhone and the Pro iPhone. First, there was a size difference. If you wanted the smallest model, that was one of the non-Pro models, the iPhone 12 mini. If you wanted the largest model, that was one of the Pro models, the iPhone 12 Pro Max. Second, you got a third camera with the Pro models, a telephoto lens. Those two differences remain true this year, but this year there are even more additional features in the Pro models.
This year, the telephoto lens on the Pro models is even better. On the iPhone 12 Pro, the telephoto lens allows you to do a 2x optical zoom. Apple calls this a 4x zoom range because you have the Ultra Wide lens for wide-angle shots, what Apple calls the Wide lens for regular shots which is 2x the Ultra Wide lens, and then the telephoto lens that is 2x the Wide lens. On the iPhone 13 Pro, the telephoto lens allows you to do a 3x optical zoom. Thus, Apple says that the iPhone 13 Pro line gives you a 6x optical range because you get 2x going from the Ultra Wide to the Wide and then 3x going from the Wide to the Telephoto. This new telephoto lens is also the first to support Night Mode.
Another camera improvement only for the Pro line is a new Macro mode. This mode uses the Ultra Wide lens with the autofocus system so that you can magnify a subject as close as two centimeters away. I suspect that we are going to see some really neat close-up pictures of bugs, flowers, etc. with this new Macro mode. Perhaps it will also help attorneys read the small print in contracts.
The Pro models also do a better job with Night Mode photography.
Another difference in the Pro models is an improved screen. The Pro models feature what Apple calls a Super Retina XDR screen featuring ProMotion. ProMotion allows an iPhone to refresh the iPhone screen at up to 120 Hz when it will make a difference, but then dial down to 10 Hz when nothing is moving on the screen. As a result, anything moving on the screen should look incredible. Also, the screen brightness increases from up to 800 nits max on the iPhone 13 / iPhone 13 mini to 1000 nits max on the iPhone 13 Pro / iPhone 13 Pro Max. If ProMotion and 1000 nits sounds familiar, it should. Apple added ProMotion to the iPad Pro back in 2017, and Apple added 1000 nits max brightness with 1600 nits peak brightness (for up to 40% of the screen) to the iPad Pro 12.9" model earlier this year. The display technology for the iPad Pro and the iPhone Pro are different. Nevertheless, the 2021 model of the 12.9" iPad Pro has an absolutely stunning display and I have loved using it for the last four months. I have no doubt that adding some of this same technology to the iPhone 13 Pro will result in a stunning iPhone screen. It's the sort of thing that you don't explicitly notice very often, unless you are looking at a dynamic photo or video that pushes the display to its limits, but it makes the overall experience of looking at the screen much better. And that's all that the iPhone and iPad really is — a screen that you look at and touch — so it is nice to have a premium experience on the screen.
The Pro line uses the same A15 Bionic, but uses a 5-core GPU instead of the 4-core GPU used in the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini. Thus, graphics performance should be somewhat better on the two Pro models.
Cost
If you want the entry-level 128GB model, you can get the iPhone 13 mini for $699, the iPhone 13 for $799, the iPhone 13 Pro for $999, and the iPhone 13 Pro Max for $1099. For an extra $100, you can double the memory to 256GB. Or for an extra $300, you can go up to 512GB. On the two Pro models, you can also pay an extra $500 for a 1TB model. I'm glad that the cheapest iPhone now has 128GB instead of 64GB; 64GB was pretty limiting. For most attorneys, I think that the 128GB model is a fine option. If you plan to take and store a lot of pictures and video on your iPhone, then the larger sizes make sense, and the 256GB size will be the "just right" size for many. (For me, 256GB is the right size for my iPhone, but I have 512GB on my iPad because I store so many large documents on that device.)
Note that you can save money on a new iPhone by trading in your old iPhone to Apple at the same time that you buy a new iPhone. Apple will pay up to $790 for an iPhone 12 Pro Max, up to $640 for an iPhone 12 Pro, and up to $530 for an iPhone 12, which drastically reduces the overall price of updating from last year's model to the year's model.
The iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini come in five colors: (PRODUCT) RED, Starlight, Midnight, Blue, and Pink. Midnight is a shade of black. Starlight looks like sort of a silver or white color.
The iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max come in four colors: Graphite, Gold, Silver, and Sierra Blue.
Conclusion
The iPhone 13 is a very nice improvement upon the already great iPhone 12. Start with the same fantastic design and then make it faster and more powerful with a meaningful increase in battery life and better cameras. That's a winning combination. And the Pro model is an even better step up this year than it was last year, with an improved telephoto camera and other camera improvements, a much nicer screen, and a better graphics processor. You get a lot for the extra $200.
