Septembers are special, and you don’t need to be a gadget geek or tech freak to have this month marked out on the calendar. Why? It’s that time of the year when Apple introduces the world to a new set of iPhones. We got our hands on the new device and from the get-go, you note two things—it’s one of the costliest smartphones in the Indian market and the iPhone 13 Pro has all the features every iPhone enthusiast wants. But more on that later, let’s first take a closer look at the design.
Apple iPhone 13 Pro review: Subtle but Sophisticated
One of the chief charges that Apple faced with this launch was that it has become a little stagnant when it comes to the design of the iPhones. To a certain extent, all companies have become design stagnant. However, when it comes to the iPhone 13 Pro, while it does look a little like the 11th and the 12th versions, the trained eye will notice subtle differences. Apple enthusiasts should look at it as a challenge, how well do you know the brand to notice these changes.
For starters, the square frame with rounded curves for the exterior shell feels familiar, but it looks a lot more premium than before. (At least in the golden variant that we are testing, this becomes apparent easily.) The camera module at the back has changed slightly, and the notch on the front of the device, which we were hoping would be done away with, this time has thankfully become smaller. A new sierra blue colour variant has been added to the line-up, which stands out for being bold and brilliant.
The Display
The Apple iPhone 13 Pro sports a 6.1-inch super Retina XDR OLED HDR10 ready display that supports a 120Hz refresh rate. What does that imply? It means everything on the screen will be faster. The scrolling experience will buttery smooth. The one place and you will feel the difference is when you will scroll through Instagram posts, Facebook feeds or other social media platforms.
The colours on Apple iPhone 13 Pro seem brighter, the text on the screen is sharper and our experience with platforms such as Netflix and Prime videos was great. This is something that none of the Android smartphones provides. Moreover, if like me you love to play games, the touchscreen of the Apple iPhone 13 Pro is by far the best in the current gen of phones.
Apple iPhone 13 Pro review: Performance Parameters
Under the hood, Apple has put the latest Bionic A15 chipset that is the latest and the fastest from the company. This is coupled with up to 1 TB of storage, so all those who were bickering about the brand, not including a memory card slot in the iPhone can simply buy a larger storage driven iPhone 13 Pro. The RAM and battery size have been bumped up and together with the latest CPU from Apple, the smartphone can open the most intense of games and apps in a blink of an eye. Battery life has become better in the Apple iPhone 13 Pro, too. You will get a few additional hours of playtime if you compare it to the previous version. Also, iPhone 13 Pro is water and dust resistant and comes with an iOS 15 operating system out of the box.
Finger Clicking Good
The Apple iPhone 13 Pro has triple 12 MP cameras that take care of ultra-wide, wide, and telephoto shooting experience. There is a TOF 3D LiDAR sensor included, which is great for adding depth to images. This has become better and the depth in shots is far superior when compared to its previous gen.
Not to forget, the imagery has become much better from all three camera sensors. In our test, we got to see exceptional results in the day and at night. There was hardly a time of the day that we could not adjust the settings and get the shot we wanted from the phone. A new cinematic video mode has been added in the native camera app that will adjust the subject focus automatically. If there are two subjects in the video and one looks away from the camera the focus will automatically move on to the other person. Which by the way can be shot in 4K at 60FPS (frames per second). 
Macro photography has also been added to the new iPhone, which clicks very good up close and personal images. The front camera is also powered by a 12MP sensor and can take wide-angle shots. We loved the selfie experience of the Apple iPhone 13 Pro. We got fabulous Instagram-share worthy shots during the day and at night. The camera does perfect justice to your skin tone and adjusts according to the ambient light.
Apple iPhone 13 Pro review: Verdict
It boils down to this: at Rs 1,49,000 (512GB model) it the Apple iPhone 13 Pro worth buying? Yes, if you are looking for the best cameras in a smartphone. Yes, if you want brilliant performance and display. Yes, if you like to game a lot. However, there is just one ‘no’. If you don’t fall into any of the above categories and are using an iPhone 12 Pro version, then you might want to skip this gen and pick the next one. But if you are using iPhone 11 variants or lower, the Apple iPhone 13 Pro is the perfect upgrade for you.
Pros:
Excellent Display
Brilliant performance
Premium built
Cons:
Notch still there
Seen looks
Credit: The article first appeared in India Today: Spice magazine.
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