The iPhone 13 series are now official, having been unveiled at the September 14 Apple event. We’ve got everything you need to know about the new handsets, including the all-important pricing and release date info.
This year’s models are the iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max, and below you’ll find full details of each of them. Highlights include a new 120Hz display on the Pro and Pro Max models, up to 1TB of storage, and some impressive-sounding camera upgrades.
Read on to learn everything we know so far about the next generation of iPhones.
iPhone 13 series: cut to the chase
- What is it? Apple’s next big series of smartphones
- When is it out? September 24, announced September 14
- How much will it cost? Starts at $699 / £679 / AU$1,199 for cheapest model
iPhone 13 release date and price
The iPhone 13 series was confirmed on September 14 at the company’s big launch event, and you’ll be able to pre-order the handsets from Friday September 17.
September 24 is the iPhone 13 series release date, and unlike 2020’s iPhone 12 series you’ll be able to buy each of these handsets on the same day.
The iPhone 13 starts at $799 / £779 / AU$1,349, and the iPhone 13 mini starts at $699 / £679 / AU$1,199. That’s for a 128GB of storage, which in the US and Australia matches the price of the 64GB variant of the iPhone 12 last year. In the UK they’re actually slightly cheaper than the launch prices of the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini.
| US | UK | Australia | |
| iPhone 13 mini 128GB | $699 | £679 | AU$1,199 |
| iPhone 13 mini 256GB | $799 | $779 | AU$1,369 |
| iPhone 13 mini 512GB | $999 | £979 | AU$1,719 |
| iPhone 13 128GB | $799 | £779 | AU$1,349 |
| iPhone 13 256GB | $899 | $879 | AU$1,519 |
| iPhone 13 512GB | $1,099 | £1,079 | AU$1,869 |
The iPhone 13 Pro, meanwhile starts at $999 / £949 / AU$1,699, while the iPhone 13 Pro Max starts at $1,099 / £1,049 / AU$1,849. Those prices are also for 128GB models, and they match what we saw last year with the iPhone 12 series, except in the UK where they’re £50 cheaper this year.
| US | UK | Australia | |
| iPhone 13 Pro 128GB | $999 | £949 | AU$1,699 |
| iPhone 13 Pro 256GB | $1,099 | $1,049 | AU$1,869 |
| iPhone 13 Pro 512GB | $1,299 | £1,249 | AU$2,219 |
| iPhone 13 Pro 1TB | $1,499 | £1,449 | AU$2,569 |
| iPhone 13 Pro Max 128GB | $1,099 | £1,049 | AU$1,849 |
| iPhone 13 Pro Max 256GB | $1,199 | £1,149 | AU$2,019 |
| iPhone 13 Pro Max 512GB | $1,399 | £1,349 | AU$2,369 |
| iPhone 13 Pro Max 1TB | $1,599 | £1,549 | AU$2,719 |
iPhone 13 design and display
The iPhone 13 features a flat-edge design, and has the Ceramic Shield glass we saw on the iPhone 12 series. It’s also IP68 dust and water resistant (to a depth of six meters for up to 30 minutes).
There are five new colors, which are Pink, Blue, Midnight, Starlight and Product Red.
The design is largely similar to the iPhone 12 series, so if you own one of those phones you’ll likely know what you’re getting here. The notch is slightly smaller – Apple says it’s 20% smaller – so there’s a bit more space on the screen.
The iPhone 13 and 13 mini are slightly thicker than last year’s models, at 7.65mm compared to 7.4mm for their predecessors.
As for the display, the iPhone 13 features a 6.1-inch 1170 x 2532 display while the iPhone 13 mini features a 5.4-inch 1080 x 2340 screen. They’re both Super Retina XDR displays, which use Apple’s own custom OLED technology.
Each phone still features a 60Hz screen refresh rate, which matches with the rumors.
Now onto the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max. Both handsets come in Graphite, Gold, Silver or a Sierra blue. That last shade is new, and it’s one of the boldest colors we’ve seen on a Pro iPhone.
The larger design is very similar to the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max, but there are a few changes, with some new stainless steel bands around the edges of the handset.
The iPhone 13 Pro duo comes with a new Super Retina XDR display that has a 1000-nit peak brightness outdoors, and it features a 120Hz refresh rate.
This is the first time we’ve seen a super-fast refresh rate on an iPhone. It means images will appear smoother under your finger, such as when you’re scrolling through your social media feeds or articles.
Apple’s own technology adapts the frame rate depending on what you’re looking at on your phone. This is similar to technology we’ve seen previously on the iPad series, and many Android phones already include this.
Like their predecessors, the iPhone 13 Pro has a 6.1-inch 1170 x 2532 screen, while the iPhone 13 Pro Max has a 6.7-inch 1284 x 2778 one.
MagSafe also makes a return on all the iPhone 13 handsets, so you’ll be able to use any accessories you bought last year for your iPhone 12, while Apple has introduced some new accessories as well.
iPhone 13 camera
The iPhone 13’s camera block has a new design, with the lenses arranged diagonally for the first time, rather than vertically.
There’s a 12MP wide camera, and a 12MP ultra-wide shooter. Both feature new sensors, and Apple says they can take better photos than the cameras on the iPhone 12.
The wide camera has an aperture of f/1.6, and the ultra-wide camera has an f/2.4 aperture.
As for the iPhone 13 Pro duo, you get three 12MP cameras with new sensors and lenses. There’s a wide camera with an f/1.5 aperture and large 1.9 µm pixels, an ultra-wide snapper with an f/1.8 aperture, and a telephoto camera with an f/2.8 aperture.
That latter camera is a 77mm zoom camera capable of 3x optical zoom, 2x optical zoom out and 6x optical zoom range, with digital zoom up to 15x also available.
Apple claims the main camera on the iPhone 13 Pro is 2.2x better in low light situations than the iPhone 12 Pro’s, while the camera on the iPhone 13 Pro Max is 1.5x better than the 12 Pro Max. The ultra-wide cameras are apparently 92% better in low light, and allows for macro photography for the first time on an iPhone.
Apple is bringing ProRes video to the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max “later this year”. This video format, which is already used by many filmmakers and first arrived back in 2007, offers video shooters more efficient encoding to make editing in apps like Final Cut Pro faster and less processor-intensive.
It also lets you record 4K/30fps video in the ProRes format within the camera app, though oddly not if you opt for a 128GB model – in that case ProRes tops out at 1080p.
All of the iPhone 13 models also include a new Photographic Styles camera feature that lets you selectively apply adjustments to add a custom look to your photos, and a Cinematic mode for videos, which lets you create depth effects and focus transitions.
The phones also all include a 12MP f/2.2 selfie camera on the front, like their predecessors.
iPhone 13 specs and performance
The iPhone 13 series all come with A15 Bionic chipset inside, which Apple claims has an up to 50% faster CPU and 30% faster GPU than the competition. It also includes a new 16-core Neural Engine that’s capable of 15.8 trillion operations every second.
All four of these handsets are 5G compatible, as was the iPhone 12 series.
You’ll have the option of 128GB, 256GB or 512GB of storage in the iPhone 13 duo. Huzzah, Apple has finally got rid of its 64GB option for its flagship iPhones, and that means more storage in the cheapest variant.
If you’re looking for a Pro iPhone, you’ll have the option of 128GB, 256GB, 512GB or – a new addition for iPhone – a 1TB model.
iPhone 13 battery life
According to Apple, the iPhone 13 handsets will all feature better battery life. The iPhone 13 mini and iPhone 13 Pro will last 90 minutes longer than the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro, respectively.
The iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro Max will last 2.5 hours longer than an iPhone 12 or iPhone 12 Pro Max. The iPhone 13 Pro Max also has the longest battery life ever seen on an iPhone, according to Apple.
In terms of specific life, the iPhone 13 mini can apparently manage up to 17 hours of video playback while the iPhone 13 is said to be capable of 19 hours. For the iPhone 13 Pro that rises to 22 hours, and for the iPhone 13 Pro Max it’s 28 hours.
This has mostly been achieved by a variety of optimizations through the A15 chipset and iOS 15 software. Apple has yet to confirm the size of the battery in the iPhone 13 models, and it’s unlikely we’ll know that until someone opens up a handset and finds out manually.
As on the iPhone 12 series, you won’t get a charger in the box with any iPhone 13 model. You’ll need to use your existing charger, buy one separately, or use its wireless charging capabilities.
That wireless charging is up to 15 watts on all four models, which will give you a respectable speed but won’t match that of what some Android phones are capable of doing.