As expected, the brand new iPhone 13 series was announced at Apple's 2021 fall event. If you're looking to upgrade to a new iPhone, now is the time to do it.
In case you're torn between the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro, you've come to the right place. While you may not see many differences between the two at first glance, there are significant variations you need to know about before you pick one.
Let's compare and contrast the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro to help you choose the best new iPhone for you.
Price
The pattern for the pricing is pretty similar to the iPhone 12 lineup. The iPhone 13 retails at $799 for 128GB of storage, $899 for 256GB of storage, and $999 for 512GB of storage.
For the iPhone 13 Pro, pricing is as follows: $999 for 128GB of storage, $1099 for 256GB of storage, $1299 512GB of storage, and $1499 for 1TB of storage.
If you're looking for a cheaper option, the choice is pretty evident, with the iPhone 13 having a minimum price of $799, which is $200 cheaper than the 13 Pro for the same amount of storage.
Storage
Apple has done away with the 64GB option for the iPhone 13 series altogether. The minimum storage for all four models begins at 128GB, followed by 256GB and 512GB. And that's not even the highest Apple went this time around.
The iPhone 13 Pro has an additional storage option of a massive 1TB. This option is not available for the standard iPhone 13 model. Looking at the new iPhone's excellent camera upgrades, you might need all that extra storage after all.
Colors
Color variations for both the iPhone 13 and 13 Pro models have a stark difference between them.
The iPhone 13 has a good mix of neutrals and bright tones, offering five colors:
- Midnight
- Starlight
- Blue
- (Product)RED
- Pink
The iPhone 13 Pro is available in four different colors, featuring an all-neutral palette of shades:
- Silver
- Graphite
- Gold
- Sierra blue
If you're looking for an aesthetic color for your new phone, your best bet has to be the iPhone 13 Pro, as the iPhone 13 focuses more on primary colors rather than exciting, flashy ones.
Camera
And this, folks, is the real deal.
As a brief overview, the iPhone 13's camera has two lenses arranged diagonally: wide and ultra-wide. It features 2x optical zoom, digital zoom up to 5x, an ƒ/1.6 aperture for the wide camera, and an ƒ/2.4 aperture for the ultra-wide lens.
There are three cameras for the iPhone 13 Pro: telephoto, wide, and ultra-wide, plus a LiDAR Scanner. It features 3x optical zoom, digital zoom up to 15x, macro capabilities, Apple ProRAW, an ƒ/1.5 aperture for the wide camera, and an ƒ/1.8 aperture for the ultra-wide camera.
The broader apertures for the iPhone 13 Pro mean a 92% improvement in low-light photography, and the LiDAR scanner offers amazing Night mode shots, along with a better augmented reality experience. Macro photography will allow you to get detailed closeups of tiny objects (as close as 2cm away), while Apple ProRAW is Apple's photo format for improved photo editing capabilities, introduced with the iPhone 12.
The iPhone 13 Pro has many features that we love, and the camera is certainly one of them.
Design
One might assume that the iPhone 13 would be smaller than the iPhone 13 Pro by a marginalized amount. Surprisingly, that's not the case. Both the models are exactly the same dimensions, standing at 5.8 x 2.8 x 0.3 inches. If you want a larger or smaller size, you're going to have to look at the iPhone 13 mini or iPhone 13 Pro Max instead.
A standard design change across all four models is the reduction of the Face ID notch at the top by 20% compared to previous iPhone models. Both the iPhone 13 and 13 Pro models get a 20% reduction, so they still look the same as one another. So how exactly will you be able to differentiate between the two at first glance? You'll have to turn the phone around for that.
The most significant design difference is the camera. The iPhone 13 has two lenses placed in a diagonal manner, while the iPhone 13 Pro has three lenses placed over a camera module.
Another difference has to be the material and finish. The iPhone 13 comprises aerospace-grade aluminum, while the iPhone 13 Pro is made from surgical-grade stainless steel. In other words, the iPhone 13 Pro is heavier and shinier than the iPhone 13 due to its steel finish. Moreover, the iPhone 13 Pro has a matte glass rear, whereas the iPhone 13 has a basic glass finish.
Overall, there's not really much of a difference when you look at the two phones together. If the number of cameras on the back is a deciding factor for you when purchasing, then your choice is clear.
Display
A significant difference between the displays is the presence of ProMotion technology, which is only on the iPhone 13 Pro. ProMotion offers adaptive refresh rates up to 120Hz and is coming to the iPhone for the first time with the 13 Pro.
What this means is a more efficient display, smoother animations, and seamless scrolling. There is no adaptive refresh available for the iPhone 13.
When it comes to size, both iPhones have a 6.1-inch display screen.
Battery Life
Compared to the iPhone 12 and other previous iPhone models, the iPhone 13 series offers markedly better battery life, making it one of the best new features of the iPhone 13. The real question is, is there a difference between the battery life of the iPhone 13 and 13 Pro?
Apple claims there is. An accurate comparison dictates that the battery life for audio playback is 75 hours for both the models, but the iPhone 13 Pro has video playback of up to 22 hours, compared to the iPhone 13's 19 hours, giving it a slightly longer battery life than the iPhone 13 with video playback.
Performance
Both iPhones house Apple's new A15 Bionic chip, making them extremely powerful devices. The difference arrives in their GPU cores, with the iPhone 13 having four cores and the iPhone 13 Pro having five. Don't know what that means? It's easy enough.
The difference in the number of GP cores mainly leads to differences in graphics. The extra core in the iPhone 13 Pro gives it slightly better graphics than the iPhone 13. Still, nothing too significant, so it's unlikely it will serve as a decisive factor.
iPhone 13 vs. iPhone 13 Pro: What Is Your Choice?
Given an outward glance, both the models look the same apart from the difference in cameras at the back.
The iPhone 13 retails at $799, has two lenses at the back, has three storage options with a maximum of 512GB, and comes in midnight, starlight, blue, red, or pink. It doesn't offer a LiDAR scanner, macrophotography, Apple ProRAW, or ProMotion, and it has a slightly shorter battery life than the iPhone 13 Pro.
The iPhone 13 Pro retails at $999, has three lenses at the back, has four storage options with a maximum of 1TB, and comes in silver, graphite, gold, or sierra blue. It also offers a LiDAR scanner, macrophotography, Apple ProRAW, and ProMotion, and it has a slightly longer battery life than the iPhone 13.