As they do every September, today Apple announced this year’s iPhone along with a few other goodies. Find the full video below or scroll past it to read my recap for those of you who don’t have an hour and 20 minutes to spare today.
iPhone 13
Preorders begin Friday September 17 at 5am Pacific/8am Eastern
Delivery begins September 24
There were few surprises with today’s iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro announcement. Compared to last year’s model the new phones have slightly better speed, camera, battery, brighter screen, and a 20% smaller notch. So why would you upgrade if you have the iPhone 12? You probably wouldn’t unless you love having the latest and greatest all the time. But if you have been 3, 5, or more years with the same iPhone these incremental updates really add up. As expected, the lineup is the same as the iPhone 12: four variations in total with two “Pro” models and two regular models.
Cinematic Mode is a new feature where videos change focus automatically, even to the background or foreground as your subject glances in that direction. You can tap to manually control this, and you can adjust it in post.
Photographic Styles use the neural engine to make adjustments that apply to all of your photos.
As always, the biggest differences between the Pro and regular models lie in the camera. The Pro models have a telephoto lens, LiDAR sensor, much larger apertures that allow for better low-light photos, macro photo support, and support for Apple ProRES and Apple ProRAW.
| iPhone 13 mini | iPhone 13 | iPhone 13 Pro | iPhone 13 Pro Max | |
| Base Price | $699 | $799 | $999 | $1099 |
| Screen Size | 5.4″ | 6.1″ | 6.1″ | 6.7″ |
| Capacities | 128GB 256GB 512GB | 128GB 256GB 512GB | 128GB 256GB 512GB 1TB | 128GB 256GB 512GB 1TB |
| Colors | Starlight Midnight Blue Pink Product (red) | Starlight Midnight Blue Pink Product (red) | Graphite Gold Silver Sierra Blue | Graphite Gold Silver Sierra Blue |
| ProMotion Display | ✔️ | ✔️ | ||
| GPU | 4-Core | 4-Core | 6-Core | 6-Core |
| Apple ProRAW | ✔️ | ✔️ | ||
| Battery (streaming video playback) | 13 hours | 15 hours | 22 hours | 28 hours |
| LiDAR | ✔️ | ✔️ | ||
| Macro Photography | ✔️ | ✔️ | ||
| Wide Camera | ƒ/1.6 aperture | ƒ/1.6 aperture | ƒ/1.5 aperture | ƒ/1.5 aperture |
| Ultra Wide Camera | ƒ/2.4 aperture | ƒ/2.4 aperture | ƒ/1.8 aperture | ƒ/1.8 aperture |
| Telephoto Camera | none | none | ƒ/2.8 aperture | ƒ/2.8 aperture |
| Digital Zoom | Up to 5x | Up to 5x | Up to 15x | Up to 15x |
Apple Watch series 7
Available “this fall” starting at $399
Apple Watch series 7 shrinks the edge of the screen to 40% its previous size, allowing for a much larger screen while keeping almost exactly the same size. This larger screen allows a lot more data to be displayed, and now allows you to enter information with a full keyboard. They have also added the ability to charge 33% faster with a new USB-C cable.
Apple Fitness+
Apple Fitness+ is getting a modest update later this month with new pilates workouts, guided meditation, and more filters to use when searching for the perfect workout. But the big announcement is Group Workouts later this year powered by SharePlay which allow up to 32 people to exercise together via FaceTime.
iPad mini
Preorders began today with delivery beginning September 24
$499 64GB / $649 256GB
5G Cellular option adds $150 plus monthly cellular service
The iPad mini got a huge upgrade today, making it very similar to the iPad Air but in a smaller screen size. It now has an edge-to-edge screen, squared edges similar to the iPad Pro and iPhone 13, USB-C, and support for Apple Pencil 2. It has support for WiFi 6 as well as optional support for 5G cellular with speeds up to 3.5 Gbps.
iPad 9
Preorders began today with delivery beginning September 24
$329 64GB / $479 256GB
LTE Cellular option adds $130 plus monthly cellular service
The entry level iPad got a modest bump today with a 20% faster chip and a new UltraWide camera that facilitates Center Stage for video calls.
iOS 15
iOS 15 will be available Monday September 20, which generally means we will see the corresponding watchOS, iPadOS, and tvOS updates on the same day. My guess is that we’ll see macOS 12 Monterey released in October.