Iphone 13 Pro Max In Box

Two-minute review

For a while there, the iPhone 13 Pro was one of Apple tree's best iPhones, simply the release of the iPhone xiv Pro inverse that. This device has an always-on display, punch-hole cut-out for the front cameras, and a new 48MP main camera.

That's a fairly large upgrade every bit far as iProducts go, making the new phone much more tempting, but its year-erstwhile sibling might appeal to people who don't need all the newest bells and whistles.

A lot of what makes that newer smartphone bully is also bachelor hither, for a slightly cheaper toll of $999 / £949 / AU$ane,699.

If you already have an iPhone, as y'all'll learn past diving deeper into our iPhone 13 Pro review, information technology makes for a big upgrade – unless you currently own last generation'south iPhone 12 Pro or Pro Max – with improvements to nearly every feature.

1 exception is the design, which remains like to that of the iPhone 12 Pro. In that location’south a matte finish on the rear of the phone and stainless steel edges, which make the handset feel appropriately premium.

The new A15 Bionic chipset paired with 6GB of RAM delivered more than enough ability to run fifty-fifty the well-nigh demanding apps you lot’ll find in the Apple App Store, while the telephone starts at 128GB of storage, with options up to 1TB for those who need lots of space.

The iPhone thirteen Pro also offers a fantastic photographic camera feel, with a versatile assortment of cameras that can handle both daytime and nighttime shooting with ease. The telephoto and macro cameras mean you lot can shoot at a multifariousness of distances, too.

Battery life is one of the biggest upgrades, and we plant that the iPhone xiii Pro was capable of lasting a full mean solar day, no matter what we threw at it. Information technology won’t concluding quite every bit long as the iPhone 13 Pro Max, but it volition final longer than any iPhone y'all’ve used before.

And so the iPhone xiii Pro is a remarkably practiced smartphone – only and then are all the iPhone thirteen handsets, and if your budget won’t quite stretch to the Pro, the ‘standard’ iPhone 13 misses out on simply a few of its specs and features, so you may find the cheaper handset suits you only fine.

Simply if your caput has been turned by everything the iPhone 13 Pro offers – the 120Hz screen, improved cameras and a touch on more than RAM or storage – then it may well be the best iPhone for yous, especially if you don’t want or need the larger screen size of the iPhone 13 Pro Max.

• Read our iPhone xiii mini review
• Read our iPhone xiii review
• Read our iPhone 13 Pro Max review

 iPhone thirteen Pro release date and price

• Released on September 24, 2021
• Priced from $999 / £949 / AU$i,699
• New 1TB peak storage option for this generation

The iPhone 13 Pro was revealed on September 14 2021, and y'all can buy the handset now from Apple, likewise every bit from a diversity of retailers and carriers. The iPhone 13 Pro's release appointment was September 24, 2021.

The cost starts at $999 / £949 / AU$1,699, which gets you 128GB of storage. If you demand more storage you can choose from a 256GB model at $1,099 / £1,049 / AU$ane,869, a 512GB model at $i,299 / £one,249 / AU$2,219, or the 1TB variant at $i,499 / £1,449 / AU$2,569.

This is the first fourth dimension we’ve seen a 1TB iPhone, and that price is correspondingly high. If y'all want a slightly higher-specced phone with a larger screen and battery, there’due south as well the iPhone 13 Pro Max, which starts at $1,099 / £one,049 / AU$ane,849.

• See the best iPhone 13 Pro deals right at present

iPhone 13 Pro blueprint

• Subtle differences over predecessor
• Matte finish Ceramic Shield glass back
• Bachelor in five colors (including green, which was introduced after launch)

The iPhone 13 Pro is the visitor’s most premium device to date that doesn’t include a 'Max' in the title, and dissimilar the iPhone 13 Pro Max, this is a more realistic size for i-handed use. If you’re looking for a new, mid-sized iPhone, this handset, or the iPhone 13, should suit you perfectly.

Apple’s design has been refined from the iPhone 12 Pro, only the differences are minimal.

It comes with stainless steel edges, a matte finish on the rear and Apple’s Ceramic Shield glass on both the front and back. Apple says that protection makes it four times less likely to break when dropped, compared to an iPhone without it.

We wouldn’t recommend dropping your phone to find out if that’s true, patently, but it should give you an extra bit of a piece of mind if your phone does take a tumble.

The matte stop on the rear feels distinctly premium, especially when compared to the normal glass on the iPhone 13.

In our time with the iPhone 13 Pro nosotros’ve found the design to feel expert in the hand; it has a bear on more heft than the iPhone 13, which helps it sit in our mitt comfortably.

The iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 are near identical in size, simply you can’t switch cases between the two as they accept a slightly different rear photographic camera housing.

The rear assortment on the iPhone 13 Pro does protrude from the trunk quite a flake, which may be an issue for some – it’southward especially noticeable when you lay the phone down on a surface, and so if you want to type on the screen when the phone is laying downwardly, expect a touch of back and along.

The right-hand edge of the handset houses the power push, while the left-hand side is home to the mute slider, book buttons and SIM tray. On the bottom edge of the handset are the speakers, and a Lightning port for charging.

The phone is available in Graphite, Silver, Sierra Bluish, Alpine Green or Golden – the colour pictured throughout this review. The Sierra Blue option was new at launch, and is one of the almost striking colors we've seen from Apple in a while. The Alpine Green, which arrived later, in 2022, is has an understated beauty to it too.

iPhone xiii Pro brandish

• 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display
• Adaptive 120Hz refresh rate
• 20% smaller notch compared to predecessor

Like the iPhone 13, the iPhone xiii Pro comes with a 6.ane-inch Super Retina XDR OLED brandish. This screen doesn’t feature the best pixels-per-inch rating of the entire iPhone 13 range – for that, expect at the iPhone 13 mini – but it does feature 460ppi, and the image quality is correspondingly crisp.

A meaning upgrade here is the introduction of a 120Hz maximum refresh charge per unit, which means the on-screen image refreshes 120 times a second for a more than fluid feel than we’ve seen on previous iPhones; it’s nearly noticeable when yous’re scrolling through menus or system apps.

It’s a dynamic refresh rate, and so information technology’southward automatically adjusted depending on which apps you’re using – for example, most games volition use a 120Hz refresh rate, while if y'all’re reading an ebook the charge per unit could drop equally low as 1Hz. The idea here is to relieve bombardment life when y'all’re using apps that don’t benefit from the high refresh rate.

We’ve found the screen tech works well, although its availability is limited right now, equally a lot of apps aren’t optimized for 120Hz. Including this feature is something developers have access to, and we wait to see native support crop up in more than software as time goes on.

The faster refresh rate worked well with apps that support it though, and it’s a alter you’ll notice when scrolling through Apple’south menus or apps made by the visitor. It’s not reason plenty on its ain to upgrade, but it’due south a worthwhile feature, and volition go more than so every bit back up is added for more apps.

Apple has likewise reduced the size of the notch on the iPhone 13 Pro. No, in that location’s all the same no nether-display camera, but the notch here is 20% smaller than on the iPhone 12 Pro, meaning you’ve got a picayune more screen existent estate to work with.

Every little helps, but information technology’due south something you’re unlikely to observe unless you hold this telephone up adjacent to last year’s model – don’t expect to be wowed by the size of the notch when you accept your thirteen Pro out of the box.

iPhone 13 Pro camera

• Triple 12MP rear camera: master, 0.6 ultrawide, 3x telephoto
• 3D LiDAR scanner for depth sensing
• Sensor-shift optical prototype stabilization

The photographic camera setup on the iPhone thirteen Pro comprises three 12MP shooters: the primary wide photographic camera with an f/i.5 aperture, a telephoto camera with f/ane.8 aperture that’s capable of 3x optical zoom, and an ultra-wide camera with an aperture of f/i.eight and a 120-degree field of view.

There’s also a 3D LiDAR scanner, which measures depth. This helps to make autofocus more accurate, and improves the precision of Portrait mode bokeh effects in past distinguishing between a subject and their groundwork. Abroad from photography, the scanner also works with various augmented reality apps.

The main photographic camera is bang-up, and while it may not look very different to the iPhone 12 Pro’s principal camera on paper, it does offer some of import upgrades that make information technology one of the all-time smartphone cameras.

Overall flick quality is first-class, with shots taken in good light showing plenty of color and detail and a fantastic night mode when you desire to shoot something darker.

The telephoto camera on the iPhone 13 Pro is capable of 3x optical zoom, while on 2020’s handset information technology was just 2x – the divergence isn’t hugely noticeable, but we found the quality of zoomed-in images to be very skilful.

Apple has also introduced sensor shift optical image stabilization on the Pro model; which makes information technology easier to quickly take a snap without the image looking blurred. We found this to be noticeably ameliorate than the stabilization on the iPhone 12 Pro, but we should note that optical stabilization is as well bachelor on the cheaper iPhone 13.

The boosted macro mode is a big upgrade, enabling yous to capture hit close-ups of flowers, insects and other smaller subjects. It’south a characteristic we’ve seen on a lot of Android phones, and information technology’southward slap-up to encounter Apple introduce it hither.

To use macro mode, you simply demand to move the photographic camera lens close to a bailiwick and information technology’ll automatically be activated. It can be hard to proceed the camera still for these shots, only we managed to get some interesting photos, and it’s 1 of Apple tree’south more accessible camera modes.

Photographic Styles is another new add-on with the iPhone 13 Pro, and this allows you lot to apply custom looks to your images, with Rich Dissimilarity, Vibrant, Warm and Cool options.

Dissimilar a filter, these apply adjustments to unlike elements of the prototype rather than the photo every bit a whole. The idea here is that you can add a custom look to your images – for example warming up portraits or enhancing the colors in landscapes.

This isn’t going to alter the mode you shoot with the main camera, only it’southward a fun tool to experiment with. It’south difficult to see how this truly differs from a traditional filter, but information technology may be something you lot can use in your photography armory.

• Read more: iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro: The 7 biggest new camera features

On the front of the phone is a 12MP f/two.2 wide photographic camera (‘broad’ being what Apple tree calls its master telephone cameras, every bit distinct from ‘ultra-wide’), which nosotros plant worked well during video calls and for shooting the odd selfie. Information technology isn’t every bit characteristic-laden as the rear camera, simply it’s simple to fire up options like Portrait mode and get a great shot.

Don’t expect huge changes to the selfie camera if you take a recent iPhone, only you’ll still become smashing pic quality in all the scenarios you’d desire to use it in.

For video recording, the iPhone 13 Pro is capable of 4K at 24, 30 and sixty frames per second, while for Full HD it can shoot at thirty, 60, 120 and 240 frames per second.

There’due south Dolby Vision HDR back up, which makes for video that actually pops. Apple’s new Cinematic Mode, meanwhile, allows you lot to capture video with a bokeh effect besides, with the subject field focused and groundwork blurred, and automatically switches focus between subjects for a ‘focus-pull’ effect.

• Read more than: Is the GoPro Hero 10 Blackness a relic in the age of the iPhone 13's cinematic video?

Then there’s Apple's ProRes video: a video format that’s designed to be easier to edit, and kinder on your reckoner when yous motility footage from your phone to a computer to edit information technology, without dissentious the video’due south quality.

A word of advice: if yous want to be able to shoot 4K ProRes video, don’t buy the smallest, 128GB-storage model of the iPhone 13 Pro, as Apple has confirmed that the format isn't compatible with it. This suggests that ProRes footage volition take upwardly a lot of storage space, so yous’ll likely desire to opt for 512GB or 1TB, if this characteristic excites you.

Camera samples

iPhone 13 Pro specs and performance

• 5nm Apple tree A15 Bionic chipset
• 6GB RAM
• 128GB to 1TB storage options

Similar all the iPhone 13 models, the iPhone 13 Pro runs on Apple’s A15 Bionic chipset, which, at launch, the visitor claimed was the all-time smartphone processor on the market.

In our testing, it was able to run every app we loaded with ease, and we didn’t run into any stuttering problems. Gaming on the phone was also smooth, with every championship nosotros played loading rapidly.

You’re unlikely to see a big alter here if you own an iPhone 12 or a recent Android telephone, merely if you lot’re upgrading from an older iPhone you’ll discover the deviation. The A15 chipset is paired with 6GB of RAM, helps to keep things ticking over nicely.

In benchmarking, we constitute the iPhone thirteen Pro scored 4718 in Geekbench 5 software – that’s a affect higher than the iPhone 13, which scored 4688. It’s besides remarkably college than the iPhone 12 Pro, which scored 3669.

These differences won’t be especially noticeable in everyday usage, just if y'all’re pushing your telephone to its limits you may notice that yous capeesh that extra fleck of grunt the iPhone 13 Pro is able to offer.

You’ve got the selection of 128GB, 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of storage on the iPhone xiii Pro. We wouldn’t recommend going for the 1TB option unless you really think you lot need that extra space – for example if yous shoot a lot of video – while at the other end of the scale many users could discover 128GB a chip limiting, only about people will exist well served by either of the 2 centre options.

The iPhone 13 Pro is 5G-set up, and you’ll exist able to use the next-gen connection standard equally long as your plan supports the technology and you’re in an surface area that has coverage.

iPhone xiii Pro software

• iOS 15 out of the box
• At to the lowest degree six years of OS updates
• New features like Focus mode assist improve user feel

iOS fifteen comes running on the iPhone 13 Pro out of the box. It’s a minimal upgrade over iOS 14 – the 2020 update inverse the look and feel of the iPhone platform, while iOS 15 only brings a few tweaks and extra features.

For case, Focus style allows yous to tailor what notifications you get at certain times of day – so if yous desire to limit Twitter notifications during your work hours, for example, you can do that here.

The software works well on the iPhone xiii Pro, and we didn’t observe any particular bugs that hampered our feel.

Nosotros’d expect that the iPhone 13 Pro will be supported with new software updates over the coming years, too; iOS fifteen is compatible with iPhones going dorsum as far as the iPhone 6S from 2015, and so you tin can wait forrard to at to the lowest degree 5 years of updates.

iPhone 13 Pro bombardment life

• Best bombardment life on a non-Pro Max iPhone to engagement
• Supports upwardly to 20W charging speeds
• Compatible with MagSafe for iPhone
• No power adapter in-box

Bombardment life on the iPhone xiii Pro is better than we’ve seen on previous Pro handsets from the brand, just it’due south not as proficient equally you’ll get from the height-terminate iPhone 13 Pro Max.

We’ve establish the iPhone 13 Pro is capable of lasting a full day of normal usage. If y'all push your telephone slightly harder, you may detect that it needs recharging before the end of the twenty-four hours.

On lower-use days, the phone would by and large have ten-20% left when we put it on charge at the end of the mean solar day – this is remarkably meliorate battery life than nosotros’ve seen on the iPhone 12 Pro and other Pro handsets before it.

The telephone supports fast charging up to xx watts (depending on what blazon of charger you lot apply), which should be able to charge the phone from empty to full in just an hour. Nosotros found that 15 minutes of charging gave us 25% battery, while xxx minutes got us to 53%.

That’southward non the fastest charging we’ve seen in a smartphone – not past a long shot, with some of the latest Android handsets hitting 120W or even faster – simply it’ll exist fine for most users.

Note, though, that at that place’s no charger in the box, as Apple continues to wage its war on e-waste matter, then you’ll have to purchase a charger if y'all don’t already take ane. If you're not sure which to purchase, check out our best iPhone chargers guide.

In that location’s also wireless charging on the iPhone thirteen Pro at up to 15W when using Apple’s MagSafe chargers, or upward to 7.5W with standard Qi wireless charging pads.

Should I buy the iPhone 13 Pro?

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Also consider

If you lot've read the entirety of our iPhone 13 Pro review and nonetheless feel like it isn't the device for you, there are a few notable alternatives that might brand for a better fit.

Commencement reviewed: September 2021