Hardware

Published on September 15th, 2021 | by Adrian Gunning

Apple unveils iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max — more pro than ever before

Apple today introduced iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in a smartphone. Redesigned inside and out, both models introduce an all-new Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion featuring an adaptive refresh rate up to 120Hz, making the touch experience faster and more responsive. The pro camera system gets its biggest advancement ever with new Ultra Wide, Wide, and Telephoto cameras that capture stunning photos and video, powered by the unmatched performance of A15 Bionic, more powerful than the leading competition. These technologies enable impressive new photo capabilities never before possible on iPhone, like macro photography on the new Ultra Wide camera and up to 2.2x improved low-light performance on the new Wide camera. New computational photography features like Photographic Styles personalise the look of images in the Camera app, and both models now include Night mode on all cameras. Video takes a huge leap forward with Cinematic mode for beautiful depth-of-field transitions, macro video, Time-lapse and Slo-mo, and even better low-light performance. Both models also offer end-to-end pro workflows in Dolby Vision, and for the first time, ProRes, only available on iPhone. iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max also include 5G with more bands for better coverage, big improvements to battery life for the best battery life ever on iPhone with iPhone 13 Pro Max, new storage capacity of 1TB, and the Ceramic Shield front cover, tougher than any smartphone glass.

iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max will be available in four stunning finishes, including graphite, gold, silver, and the all-new sierra blue. Pre-orders begin Friday, 17 September, with availability beginning Friday, 24 September.

“iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max make up our most pro iPhone lineup ever with the biggest advancement for our camera system, the best battery life ever in an iPhone, and the fastest performance of any smartphone, setting a new standard for iPhone and enabling incredible experiences never before possible,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The new pro camera system offers even more pro photography capabilities like improved telephoto zoom, macro photography, Photographic Styles, Cinematic mode, as well as ProRes and Dolby Vision video. The Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion is our best display ever; it intelligently responds to the content on your screen, offers fantastic graphics performance, and is perfect for any viewing experience.”

The Most Advanced Cameras Ever on iPhone
With new sensors and lenses for all three rear cameras, optimised to work seamlessly with iOS 15 and powered by the new image signal processor (ISP) in A15 Bionic for improved noise reduction and tone mapping, the iPhone 13 Pro lineup features the best camera system ever on iPhone. The all-new Wide camera has a larger sensor with 1.9 µm pixels, the largest ever on iPhone, for less noise and faster shutter speeds needed across lighting conditions, producing even more detailed photos. Coupled with the larger ƒ/1.5 aperture, the Wide camera on iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max offers a massive improvement in low-light situations, up to 2.2x when compared to iPhone 12 Pro, and nearly 1.5x when compared to iPhone 12 Pro Max. Sensor-shift optical image stabilisation (OIS) — unique to iPhone — is available on both models, stabilising the sensor instead of the lens, so images are smooth and video is steady, even when the user is not.

The new Ultra Wide camera features a much wider ƒ/1.8 aperture and a new autofocus system, bringing a 92 per cent improvement for low-light environments, producing images that are brighter and sharper. The new lens design, autofocus capability for the first time in the Ultra Wide on iPhone, and advanced software also unlock something never before possible on iPhone: macro photography. Users can capture sharp, stunning images where objects appear larger than life, magnifying subjects with a minimum focus distance of 2 centimetres. Macro also extends to video including Slo-mo and Time-lapse. iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max also boast a new 77 mm Telephoto camera, allowing users to get closer to their subjects while recording video and achieve even more classically framed portraits, offering 3x optical zoom for a total 6x optical zoom range on the camera system.

A faster Neural Engine in A15 Bionic, new ISP, and advancements in computational photography power the all-new camera features on iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max. Photographic Styles allows users to bring their personal photo preferences to every image while still benefitting from Apple’s multiframe image processing. Preset and customised preferences work across scenes and subjects, and unlike a simple filter, intelligently apply the right adjustments to parts of the photo to ensure the important elements, like different skin tones, are preserved. For the first time ever, Night mode comes to all cameras on iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max, including the Telephoto camera, and with Smart HDR 4, users can expect improved colour, contrast, and lighting for subjects, even in group shots or challenging lighting situations, making images more true to life. iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max also offer popular features like Deep Fusion, Apple ProRAW, and Portrait mode with Portrait Lighting

A Massive Leap in Smartphone Video
Following extensive study of cinematography and the powerful use of rack focus, Cinematic mode on iPhone records videos of people, pets, and objects with a beautiful depth effect with automatic focus changes, so anyone can capture cinema-style moments, even if they aren’t a professional filmmaker. For creative control, the focus can be changed during and after capture, and users can also adjust the level of bokeh in the Photos app and iMovie for iOS, and coming soon to iMovie for macOS and Final Cut Pro,1 making the lineup the only devices able to edit the depth-of-field effect in video even after recording. Enabled by A15 Bionic and advanced machine learning algorithms, Cinematic mode records in Dolby Vision HDR.

iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max also introduce ProRes,2 an advanced video codec used widely as the final delivery format for commercials, feature films, and broadcasts, to offer higher colour fidelity and less compression.3 This powerful new pro workflow is enabled by the new camera hardware, advanced video encoders and decoders in A15 Bionic, and flash storage pipeline. iPhone is the only smartphone in the world to provide an end-to-end workflow — capture, edit, and share in Dolby Vision or ProRes.

A15 Bionic with 5-core GPU for Best-in-Class Performance
A15 Bionic in the iPhone 13 Pro line-up is even more advanced, offering impressive power and efficiency, and driving the incredible new display, camera, and video features never before possible on iPhone. With 5-nanometre technology, A15 Bionic — the fastest chip in a smartphone — features a new 5-core GPU in the Pro lineup that brings the fastest graphics performance in any smartphone, up to 50 per cent faster than the leading competition, ideal for video apps, high-performance gaming, and the slate of new camera features. The new 6-core CPU with two new high-performance cores and four new high-efficiency cores, is up to 50 per cent faster than the competition and handles demanding tasks smoothly and efficiently. A new 16-core Neural Engine capable of 15.8 trillion operations per second enables even faster machine learning computations for third-party app experiences, as well as features like Live Text in Camera with iOS 15. And major advancements to the next-generation ISP provide improved noise reduction and tone mapping.

Super Retina XDR with ProMotion: A Brighter, More Responsive Display
iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max introduce the most advanced display ever on iPhone, Super Retina XDR with ProMotion, supporting an adaptive refresh rate from 10Hz to 120Hz, for fast frame rates when users need it and preserving battery life when they don’t. Offered in both 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch sizes,4 the intelligent new display leverages a more efficient OLED panel, new display engine of A15 Bionic, faster GPU performance, always-on touch coprocessor, and is custom designed to operate with iOS 15, making gestures, animations, and activities like gameplay feel faster and more responsive. This is the brightest display ever on iPhone with up to 25 per cent higher max outdoor brightness, at 1000 nits, so users will experience amazing resolution, colour, and contrast whether casually scrolling through the web or watching HDR videos.

Redesigned Inside and Out, Durable Design, and a Huge Leap for Battery Life
The all-new Pro line-up features a premium flat-edge design, crafted with exceptional materials, including the surgical-grade stainless steel band, with an elegant finish that is resistant to abrasion and corrosion, and a textured matt glass back. Both models are available in four striking colours including the all-new sierra blue, created using multiple layers of nanometre-scale metallic ceramics applied across the surface for a stunning and durable finish. iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max are protected by the Ceramic Shield front cover, exclusive to iPhone and tougher than any smartphone glass, offering amazing durability and drop performance. With a 20 per cent smaller area to house the TrueDepth camera system, both models feature more viewing area on the display, while still packing in innovative technologies like Face ID, the most secure facial authentication in a smartphone. The rear camera system introduces a new design with beautiful stainless steel trim surrounding each sapphire crystal lens, and the Pro lineup is designed to protect against spills from common liquids with an industry-leading IP68 rating for water resistance.5

On the inside, A15 Bionic, more power-efficient components, a larger battery, and power optimisations made possible by the tight integration of hardware and software enable amazing all-day battery life6 for both Pro models, with iPhone 13 Pro Max offering the longest battery life ever in an iPhone. iPhone 13 Pro will last up to one and a half hours longer in a day than iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 13 Pro Max will last up to two and a half hours longer in a day than iPhone 12 Pro Max.

5G Experiences in More Places
The world is quickly moving to 5G, and iPhone offers an advanced 5G experience, transforming the way users connect, share, and enjoy content. The customised hardware design in the iPhone 13 Pro lineup features more 5G bands, allowing it to work in more places on 5G for greater coverage and performance.7 By the end of 2021, support for 5G on iPhone will double around the globe, with over 200 carriers worldwide in 60 countries and regions. Users can experience higher-quality video streaming on their favourite platforms, more competitive gameplay in multiplayer games, faster download and upload speeds, and so much more. With iOS 15, SharePlay8 on 5G will unlock powerful shared experiences such as watching HDR movies or TV shows in sync with friends while on a FaceTime call. And Smart Data mode will intelligently conserve battery life by automatically shifting iPhone to LTE when 5G speeds aren’t needed.

Featuring iOS 15
iOS 15 enhances the iPhone experience with new ways to stay connected, and powerful features that help users focus, explore, and do more with on-device intelligence. FaceTime calls feel more natural with spatial audio and a new Portrait mode, new Focus features help users reduce distraction, notifications have been redesigned, and Live Text uses on-device intelligence to recognise text in a photo and allows users to take action. Apple Maps brings beautiful new ways to navigate and explore the world with a new three-dimensional city-driving experience and walking directions in augmented reality.10 Weather is redesigned with full-screen maps and more graphical displays of data, Wallet adds support for home keys, and new privacy controls in Siri, Mail, and more places across the system further protect user information.

iPhone and the Environment
iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max are designed to minimise their impact on the environment, including the use of 100 per cent recycled rare earth elements in magnets like those used in MagSafe, 100 per cent recycled tin in the solder of the main logic board and, for the first time, in the solder of the battery management unit. Both models also introduce 100 per cent recycled gold on the plating of the main logic board and the wire in the front camera and rear cameras. Redesigned packaging eliminates the outer plastic wrap, avoiding 600 metric tons of plastic and bringing Apple closer to its goal of completely removing plastic from all packaging by 2025.

Today, Apple is carbon neutral for global corporate operations, and by 2030, plans to have net zero climate impact across the entire business, which includes manufacturing supply chains and all product life cycles. This means that every Apple device sold, from component manufacturing, assembly, transport, customer use, charging, all the way through recycling and material recovery, will be 100 per cent carbon neutral.

Availability

  • iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max will be available in graphite, gold, silver, and sierra blue in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and all-new 1TB storage options.
  • Customers in Australia, Canada, China, Germany, India, Japan, the UK, the US, and more than 30 other countries and regions will be able to pre-order iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max beginning at 10 p.m. AEST on Friday, 17 September, with availability beginning Friday, 24 September.
  • Customers can get iPhone 13 Pro starting at RRP A$1,699 inc. GST before trade-in, and iPhone 13 Pro Max starting at RRP A$1,849 inc. GST before trade-in from apple.com/au/store, in the Apple Store app, and at Apple Store locations.12
  • iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max are also available through Apple Authorised Resellers and select carriers.
  • iOS 15 will be available as a free software update from Monday, 20 September.
  • The new iPhone Leather Wallet with MagSafe supports Find My, enabling users to be notified of its last known location if it becomes detached from iPhone. iPhone Leather Wallet with MagSafe joins new MagSafe cases in leather and silicone, as well as a clear case with MagSafe, that are available to order today.
  • Apple provides customers with a number of services in store and online that make its retail experience uniquely Apple. With personalised support and advice from Apple Specialists, convenient delivery and pickup options, free engraving, and great trade-in values11, Apple ensures the best way to buy Apple products is from Apple Store locations and apple.com/au/store.12

 


About the Author

agun@impulsegamer.com'

Adrian lives in Melbourne Australia and has a huge passion for gaming, technology and pop culture. He recently finished his a Bachelor of Journalism and is currently focusing on games journalism. When not writing and playing video games, Adrian can be found in Comics 'R' Us debating the pros of the DC Universe and cons of the Marvel Universe.


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