As the new iPhone 13 has been unveiled, and the preorder date coming nearer, we thought it would be better if we gave you an in-depth comparison of the iPhone 13 vs. iPhone 12. There are only a handful of design changes with a smaller notch and a slight gain in weight, however, the important improvements are under the hood. Apple has boosted its battery life significantly, upgraded the cameras, and provided us with a few other surprises.
So, what does the iPhone 13 have in store? These are the key features that will define the new model and the differences from its former.
Long story short – This is iPhone 13 vs iPhone 12:
- Similar design and size, iPhone 13 is on the heavier side.
- Identical 6.1″ screen size and both have 60Hz only (no 120Hz, bummer!)
- iPhone 13 with the A15 Bionic chip, A14 chip on iPhone 12
- Dual cameras (wide and ultrawide) with few upgrades on the iPhone 13
- Longer battery life for the iPhone 13.
Display and Design Comparison
The iPhone 13 keeps the size as well as the styling of the iPhone 12, which also comes with a flat, 6.1″ screen. This size is a great middle-ground, a bit larger and more useful than the small 5.8-inch screen that Apple used to have on the iPhone X, XS, and 11 Pro.
- The iPhone 12 does not have is 120Hz ProMotion technology, which is only available on the iPhone 13 Pro series.
- There are few new colors and few old colors are gone. The two cameras are now aligned diagonally rather than in a straight line.
The new iPhone 13 weighs 174 grams, a little bit more when compared to the 164 grams of the iPhone 12. Plus, the phone is just a bit thicker at 7.65mm when compared to that on the iPhone 12 which is 7.4mm.
Cameras Comparison
The iPhone 13 skips the telephoto lens just like its predecessors but does bring upgrades to its two rear cameras.
- Wide camera — 12MP on both, 26 mm, f/1.6 aperture on both iPhone 13 & 12
- Ultra-wide camera — 12MP on both, 0.5X; f/2.4 aperture on both iPhone 13 & 12
- The main camera comes equipped with a new sensor that is able to capture more light, up to 47% more, for better night shots, plus you also get a new sensor-shift OIS for better stability.
- Cinematic Mode — is similar to Portrait mode, but is for video. This will analyze video footage in real-time and blur the background for a so-called bokeh effect.
- Photographic Styles — is way more powerful than traditional filters. This new AI filters will allow you to adjust colors, highlights, and shadows on individual elements of a photo.
While rumors claimed the new iPhone 13 will be getting a LiDAR scanner, the final product does not seem to have it, and this sensor is also reserved for the Pro models only.
Performance and new Apple A15 chip
The iPhone 13 is powered by the new Apple A15 Bionic processor. The iPhone 13 has the same base variant starting at 4GB RAM same as the iPhone 12, however, it has 128GB of storage, double the predecessor at the same price. The Apple A15 chip is built on 5nm technology, however, it has 15 billion transistors when compared to the 11.8 billion transistors on the A14 chip.
In the Geekbench 5 single-core
- The iPhone 13 scored 1728
- While the iPhone 12 scored 1594
There is a slight improvement in the speed sector, as per analysts, it is probably due to Apple bumping CPU speed for better single-core scores and increasing the cache that helps out with the multi-core results.
Battery and charging comparison
The iPhone 13 boasts a battery boost, and while Apple does not provide the battery capacity numbers, official records with battery registrars reveal that the iPhone 13 has a 3,240mAh battery cell, a nearly 15% increase in capacity.
Apple does confirm that you will get 1.5 hours longer battery life on average, and digging further in Apple documents show that the iPhone 13 can now last 15 hours of non-stop video streaming, a huge upgrade over the 11 hours output from the iPhone 12.
Apple claims it has made an eco-move, or you could just call it a simple price-cutting maneuver. Whatever you want to call it, you better plan on spending an additional $20-$30 bucks for a fast charger for the new iPhone 13.
Apple has been somewhat slow to adopt the super-fast charging that can be seen on countless Android phones. There are the same 20W wired charging speeds for iPhone 13 and 15W wireless charging speeds with a compatible MagSafe charger.
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