Samsung Galaxy S22 Series
Samsungs phones have always gone toe-to-toe with Apples devices when it comes to flagship wares. So is it any surprise that the Galaxy S22 family is easily one of the best iPhone 13 alternatives on the market?
One of the most significant selling points is that Samsung promises four years of OS updates and five years of security patches for the S22 series . This isnt as good as Apples devices, but its miles better than most Android OEMs.
What we thought:Galaxy S22 review | Galaxy S22 Plus review | Galaxy S22 Ultra review
All three phones offer 120Hz OLED panels, 5G connectivity, 12MP ultrawide cameras, and 8K video recording. The Galaxy S22 is the cheapest and smallest model, packing a downgraded 3,700mAh battery, a relatively solid triple camera system, and the return of Gorilla Glass all around. Meanwhile, the S22 Ultra is the largest and most expensive Galaxy Note 20 replacement, featuring a 5,000mAh battery, two telephoto cameras , a glass design, and a QHD+ panel.
What’s New About The iPhone 13 Pro And iPhone 13 Pro Max
The high-end iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max are getting big upgrades, too, especially to their cameras. The multi-camera setup takes in even more light than the iPhone 13 — Night mode is now on its wide, ultra-wide and telephoto cameras. The iPhone 13 Pro is also capable of macro photography and video, with a focus as small as 2cm for capturing tiny subjects.
The iPhone 13 Pro now has a 6.1-inch ProMotion display with adaptive refresh, another feature enabled by the A15 Bionic chip. The screen refreshes between 10 and 120 times per second, depending on what you’re doing, so motion looks smooth and fluid on the phone, whether you’re gaming or just scrolling through messages.
And that’s not all. The iPhone 13 Pro features improved battery life and more storage capacity, ranging from 128GB to 1TB. A new sierra blue color option is also available.
The price of the iPhone 13 Pro starts at $999, while the larger, 6.7-inch iPhone 13 Pro Max starts at $1,099. Pre-orders have begun. The phones launch on September 24.
Apple iPhone 13 Pro Review: Still The Best You Can Get
The iPhone 13 Pro is the best model you can get in the lineup thanks to the 120Hz display, excellent camera, easy to use software, and two-day battery life.
- Packs lots of power into its size
- Incredible camera and video performance
- Very long-lasting battery
- Smooth and responsive 120Hz screen
- Comes with 1TB storage option
- No fast charging
- No USB-C
Lets get this out the way now: The iPhone 13 Pro is the new iPhone model you should buy. Youll remember the iPhone 12 Pro Max had bigger camera sensors, giving it better lowlight performance and 3x optical zoom, rather than 2x. Not so this time. The iPhone 13 Pro is the same as the 13 Pro Max . so you dont have to bust your hand or your wallet to get the top features.
- Our take
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Add into the mix the powerful A15 Bionic processor, 120Hz ProMotion display, battery life that can last almost two days, and excellent camera performance, and you have the best iPhone 13 model in the entire lineup. Weve been using it since launch day, and have updated our review to reflect its performance many months into its life cycle.
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What’s New About The iPhone 13
In a single sentence, Apple’s new iPhone 13 is faster and brighter features more storage and takes better pictures than last year’s model, the Apple iPhone 12.
Many of these improvements are due to Apple’s snappy new A15 Bionic processor. It enables better photos and new, augmented-reality features, and it also makes for faster and smoother gaming. It’s much more energy-efficient too, which, when paired with the iPhone 13’s larger battery, dramatically improves battery life.
The new wide and ultra-wide camera sensors on the Apple iPhone 13 take in 47% more light, allowing for more detail and richer colors in dark conditions, as well as shorter photo capture times. A new Cinematic Mode, meanwhile, can switch focus between subjects while you record in 4K60 Dolby Vision HDR. You can even change the depth effect after you shoot.
The improved 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display is up to 28% brighter and delivers “bright whites true blacks,” per Apple. There’s a little bit more screen real estate here, too — Apple reduced the size of the top-notch.
Finally, the new iPhone 13 features more internal storage. The entry-level iPhone 13 now has 128 GB of storage, with a new 512GB size available. Pricing starts at $799 for the iPhone 13 and $699 for the 5.4-inch iPhone 13 mini. The phones, now available for pre-order at Apple, Best Buy and elsewhere, launch on September 24.
Is The Apple iPhone 13 Worth Buying
In 2020, Apple revamped a lot of the design aspects of its iPhones. It brought back the boxy design of the iPhone 4, changed the rear camera module design, and made other refinements. It also introduced the .
In 2021, Apple left things mostly the same. Sure, the fronts of the phones have a slightly smaller notch, the internals are better, and there are plenty of new features. Overall, though, if you already own an iPhone 12, there probably isnt enough here to warrant a one-year upgrade.
Our reviews: |
That being said, if you dont already own an iPhone or have one that is several years old, the Apple iPhone 13 lineup is now the best the company has on offer. They have the fastest processor, the best cameras, the newest features, and perhaps best of all larger batteries.
Of course, there are plenty of Android phones out there that will match or even exceed most elements of the latest iPhones. Scroll down to our alternatives section for more on that.
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An Advanced Camera System
It’s not just the camera orientation that Apple has changed on the standard iPhone 13. Thanks to a bigger sensor, the all-new wide angle camera can capture 47% more light in both photos and videos than the iPhone 12. However, one of the most interesting additions is the inclusion of the sensor-shift optical image stabilization that was previously exclusive to the iPhone 12 Pro Max. Now, the entire lineup gets this feature, including the smallest iPhone 13 mini.
Apple has also improved the low-light performance of the iPhone 13’s ultra-wide camera. Thanks to all these changes, you can now use Night mode on both cameras. Video recording specs have remained unchanged with support for up to 4K quality at 60FPS, but you’ll find an all-new feature called Cinematic mode that may change the way how you shoot videos on your new iPhone.
The new Cinematic mode is a game-changer. In the simplest terms, It’s sort of like Portrait mode, but for videos. Basically, this new Cinematic mode will allow your iPhone to focus on the subjects even when they’re moving and will switch between focus points automatically in real-time. Interestingly enough, you don’t even have to do anything complicated to use this feature, as all you need to do is press the record button. How cool is that?
iPhone 13 Review: Performance And A15 Bionic
- A15 Bionic is fastest chip once again
- Machine learning performance notably better
The A15 Bionic doesnt offer dramatic performance gains over the A14 Bionic powering the iPhone 12, but it didnt need to just to remain the fastest chip in any phone. As with the A14 Bionic, the A15 offers a 6-core CPU and 4-core GPU, but theres now a 16-core Neural Engine for machine learning and AI, up from 8 cores on the previous chipset.
Apple says that the iPhone 13s CPU is up to 50% faster than the competition while the GPU can handle graphics rendering 20% faster. Before we get into the benchmarks, I think its important to talk about how swift this phone feels in everyday use.
In a game like Genshin Impact an open-world adventure combat title the animations and particle effects felt console-quality as I climbed mountains, explored sweeping landscapes and tried to battle enemies. I was equally impressed by the Seek app, which instantly identified plants when I pointed the camera around my backyard.
On Geekbench 5, which measures overall performance, the iPhone 13 scored 4,129 and 1,684 respectively. Thats considerably better than the 3,859/1,593 turned in by the iPhone 12, and it destroys the Galaxy S21s scores of 3,302/1,048.
The iPhone 13s graphics performance also impresses. On the 3DMark Wild Life benchmark, the new iPhone hit 55.9 frames per second. Thats just a bit higher than the iPhone 12 , but the Galaxy S21 Ultra mustered only 33 fps.
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iPhone 13 Specs And Performance
- A15 Bionic chipset is very powerful
- The phone is great for gaming
- 4GB RAM, storage goes up to 512GB
Apples iPhone 13 series all feature the companys new A15 Bionic chipset, its latest attempt at making the most powerful smartphone chipset on the planet. Apple says it has a 50% faster CPU and 30% faster GPU than the competition.
Whatever the accuracy of those claims, Apples new handset is undeniably powerful, and while everyday performance wont be noticeably different to what youd get from the iPhone 12 or the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, this will be a huge step up for those using an iPhone 8 or below.
During our testing we found that the iPhone 13 could launch apps in an instant, and was easily capable of swapping between apps with a limited wait for each to load.
Gaming on the handset was also a breeze, with titles loading as quickly as weve seen on other products like the iPad Pro . Games looked fantastic on the OLED display, with those GPU performance upgrades particularly noticeable.
Geekbench 5 scores match our testing with the phone having an average multi-core score of 4688. The iPhone 12 scored 3859 in the same test, while the Samsung Galaxy S21 scored 3367 and the OnePlus 9 Pro scored 3630.
Apple has made another big step up here, but its most noticeable in benchmarking results. The everyday experience is largely the same, but itll be a marked step up from much older iPhone models.
Lighter On The Planet
Our stores, offices and data centres are already carbon neutral. By 2030 our products and your carbon footprint from using them will be too. And this year we eliminated the plastic wrapping around the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro boxes, saving 600 tonnes of plastic.
- * iPhone 13 Pro pricing is before the application of a trade-in credit. Consumer finance in Apple Stores and on the Apple Online Store is brokered by Apple Retail UK Limited, which offers financing from a range of finance providers. Monthly pricing requires a 24-month instalment loan with 0% APR from Barclays Partner Finance, which is a trading name of Clydesdale Financial Services Limited, a member of the Barclays Group. Clydesdale Financial Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority . Registered in England. Registered No: 2901725. Registered office: 1 Churchill Place, London, E14 5HP. Subject to application and status. Full terms apply.Representative example: £949 purchase. Total amount of credit £949 paid over 24 months as 23 monthly payments of £39.54 and a final payment of £39.58 at 0% p.a. Total cost of credit £0.
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Apple’s A15 Bionic Chip Leads Smartphone Performance
Apple has dominated the mobile chip space for the past decade, and the Android competition has struggled to keep up to this day. The previous year’s A14 Bionic chip is still unbeaten by competing offerings from Qualcomm and other manufacturers, but Apple has further extended its lead with the new six-core A15 Bionic chip. This chip packs two high-performance and four high-efficiency cores, allowing it to choose between efficiency and performance depending on the task.
While Apple doesn’t outright say how much faster its new chip is compared to the previous generation, it does say the A15 delivers up to 50% faster CPU performance and 30% faster GPU performance than the third-party competition.
One point to note here is that the A15 Bionic chip in the standard iPhone 13 features a four-core GPU, but if you really want that extra GPU performance for gaming, you can get a five-core GPU with the iPhone 13 Pro models. Regardless, the iPhone 13 is a future-proof smartphone that will handle any task you throw at it for years to come.
One of the biggest issues we faced with the iPhone 12 last year, especially the smaller iPhone 12 mini, was that it delivered mediocre battery life. Sure, you cannot expect great battery life on such a small device, but Apple has improved it this year by cramming a bigger battery into the iPhone 13 and the iPhone 13 mini.
How Did We Get Such A Huge Camera Upgrade To Fit
We designed a totally new architecture and turned the lenses 45 degrees to fit in our best dual-camera system ever with its biggest Wide camera sensor. We also made room for our sensor-shift optical image stabilization. And we equipped the Ultra Wide camera with a faster sensor.
New Ultra Wide camera reveals more detail in the dark areas of your photos
New Wide camera captures 47% more light for better photos and videos
New sensor-shift optical image stabilization keeps shots steady even when youre not
It even fits in
- Super-smart Neural Engine powers features like Cinematic mode
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iPhone 13 Vs Galaxy S22
Samsung’s Galaxy S22 is Samsung’s best competitor against the iPhone 13. They have the same size display, but Samsung offers a smoother 120Hz panel. Samsung also delivers a telephoto zoom lens, while the iPhone 13 doesn’t offer an optical zoom. However, the iPhone 13 wins in other ways, including overall image quality, battery life and performance.
See our Galaxy S22 vs iPhone 13 face-off for a full comparison of these two flagship phones.
Adjust The Display Settings
Depending on what previous iPhone you may have had, you may not have found much use for some of the display settings that could be much more useful on an iPhone 13. Open Settings > Display & Brightness and experiment with some of the options there. Dark mode is easier on the eyes in dark light and saves battery life with your OLED display. If you dont want it on all the time, hit the Automatic switch and choose between Light until Sunset or Custom Schedule .
Changing Auto Lock from its default 30 seconds can also save you a lot of frustration, and this is a good time to mess with things like text size. Night Shift takes some of the blue hues out of your screen late at night, but its a little strongset it to your preferred time but adjust the slider a little toward the Less Warm side if you dont want to skew the display quite so much.
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The iPhone 13 Pro Has A Longer Telephoto Camera
The main camera has a new sensor, the largest ever put into an iPhone. It has a faster f1.5 aperture lens, which equates to improved light gathering. The ultrawide has a new auto focus sensor and lens that also improves light gathering. And last, the telephoto camera gets a new sensor and lens with a longer 3x optical zoom.
Using the Pro iPhones did result in brighter photos, but the improvement wasn’t always obvious. I also noticed that photos had fast shutter speeds, which resulted in freezing action better, like when I took a shot of people riding bikes.
Take a look at photos I took with both phones in the gallery below.
How Many iPhone 13 Models Are There
Apple’s iPhone 13 lineup includes four phones, just like last year’s iPhone 12. The iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Mini, iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max differ in size, price, storage options and a number of key specs and features. We’ve combed through the specs to give you an apples-to-apples comparison of each of the phones in the iPhone 13 lineup here.
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iPhone 1: What You Need To Know
iPhone 14 release date: There aren’t any release date rumors yet, we’ve heard about the launch event: it could take place on September 13. Expect a release about a week after the debut.
iPhone 14 price: Pricing is unknown, but for reference the iPhone 13 started at $799 / £779 / AU$1,349, and prices may be similar for the next models.
Design: The iPhone 14 will probably look a lot like the iPhone 13, but the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max could get a punch-hole camera instead of a notch. There might also be a big-screen iPhone 14 Max in place of an iPhone 14 mini.
Display: The iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro could have 6.1-inch 1170 x 2532 OLED screens, while the iPhone 14 Max and iPhone 14 Pro Max could have 6.7-inch 1284 x 2778 OLED screens. Expect a 120Hz refresh rate on the Pro models and a 60Hz refresh rate on the others.
Camera: The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max could have 48MP main cameras . Other specs are unclear, but a triple-lens snapper on all but the standard iPhone 14 is likely, with the basic phone instead having two rear lenses.
Specs: Every iPhone 14 model is expected to have a powerful A16 Bionic chipset, but the Pro models could additionally have 8GB of RAM and up to 2TB of storage . Some rumors suggest the iPhone 14 and 14 Max could stick with last year’s A15 Bionic though.