Apple iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro Unboxing and First Impressions


Apple introduced its iPhone 13 series and iPhone 13 Pro series smartphones earlier this month. We got hold of the iPhone 13 and the iPhone 13 Pro. Both these feature a 6.1-inch OLED Super Retina XDR display with a smaller notch, A15 Bionic 5nm Chip, upgraded cameras and a bigger battery. Here we have the unboxing and first impressions of the phones.

Box Contents

We got the Pink version of the iPhone 13 and the Sierra Blue version of the iPhone 13 Pro which are the new colour variants, both with 512GB storage. Box contents include a  USB Type-C to Lightning cable, SIM ejector tool, Apple sticker and documents in the box.

Even though both the phones feature a similar 6.1-inch (2532×1170 pixels) OLED 460ppi Super Retina XDR display, the iPhone 13’s screen is 28% brighter outdoors at 800 nits, and it offers up to 1200 nits brightness when viewing HDR content.

The phone 13 Pro’s screen is 25% brighter outdoors with maximum brightness of up to 1000 nits, and it offers up to 1200 nits brightness when viewing HDR content. It is also the first iPhone to come with ProMotion, supporting an adaptive refresh rate from 10Hz to 120Hz that varies depending on the content. Both these feature Ceramic Shield protection.

These feature a smaller notch since Apple has merged the flood illuminator and dot projector of the FaceID system into one component, and by moving the earpiece cutout up to the edge. Both the phones feature a 12MP TrueDepth front camera with f/2.2 aperture.

There are no change in button placements compared to the predecesors. As you can see, the iPhone 13 has an aluminum frame that offer a matte finish, but the surgical-grade stainless steel frame on the iPhone 13 Pro has a glossy finish and attracts fingerprints easily. These feature IP68 water resistance (6 meters for up to 30 minutes) ratings.

Even though both the models are powered by new A15 Bionic 5nm Chip with new 6-core CPU with two high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores and a new 16-core Neural Engine. The iPhone 13 has a 4-core GPU and the iPhone 13 Pro comes with 5-core GPU. These run iOS 15 out of the box that bring several new features including focus mode, live text, on-device Siri, Facetime Spatial audio and more.

The iPhone 13 has an improved 12MP (f/2.2) main camera with 1.7 µm pixels, and the company says that it is the biggest sensor ever in an iPhone dual-camera system. The Sensor-shift OIS — a technology introduced in iPhone 12 Pro Max is now available in the main camera for both iPhone 13 and the entry-level iPhone 13 mini. There is a 12MP 120° ultra-wide (f/2.4) secondary camera.

Check out the camera samples from the iPhone 13.

The iPhone 13 Pro has an all-new wide camera with a larger sensor with 1.9 µm pixels, the largest ever on iPhone and has ƒ/1.5 aperture for better low-light imaging. It also has the Sensor-shift optical image stabilisation (OIS). There is a new Ultra Wide camera with a much wider ƒ/1.8 aperture and has a new autofocus system, so it offers macrophotography with a minimum focus distance of 2cm. It can also shoot Macro videos, including Slo-mo and Time-lapse. The iPhone 13 Pro also has a new 77 mm Telephoto camera, offering 3x optical zoom.

Both the phones feature Cinematic mode with depth effect with automatic focus changes. The focus can be changed during and after capture, and you can also adjust the level of bokeh in the Photos app and iMovie for iOS, and  soon in iMovie for macOS and Final Cut Pro. The Cinematic mode records in Dolby Vision HDR. Both models also offer HDR video recording with Dolby Vision. The Pro model also has ProRes (1080p at 30 fps for 128GB storage, 4K 30 fps in other models), an advanced video codec used widely as the final delivery format for commercials, feature films, and broadcasts, to offer higher color fidelity and less compression. This feature will be rolled out in an update.

Check out the camera samples from the iPhone 13 Pro.

Even though Apple doesn’t reveal the battery capacity officially, teardown revealed that the iPhone 13 has a 3,227 mAh battery compared to 2,815 mAh in the iPhone 12, promising up to 19 hours of video playback. The iPhone 13 Pro has a 3,095 mAh battery compared to 2,815 mAh in the predecessor. Apple has managed to pack bigger batteries by using L shaped cell.

The new iPhone models are available through Authorized Apple resellers offline and online retailers like Flipkart, Amazon.in and others, in addition to Apple India online store. HDFC Bank Debit and Credit Card holders get Rs. 6,000 cashback for iPhone 13 and Rs. 5,000 cashback for iPhone 13 Pro.


Author: Srivatsan Sridhar

Srivatsan Sridhar is a Mobile Technology Enthusiast who is passionate about Mobile phones and Mobile apps. He uses the phones he reviews as his main phone. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram