Apple iPhone 13 Pro review: Faster, responsive and most powerful smartphone of 2021

Apple iPhone 13 Pro review: After creating the biggest buzz around its latest iPhone series, the Cupertino-based tech giant Apple recently launched its most awaited iPhone 13 series smartphones - iPhones 13, iPhones 13 Mini, iPhones 13 Pro, and iPhones 13 Pro Max globally. With the significant design improvements, All of them are thinner, lighter, brighter, and easy to hold in one hand as India enters the festive mood. Apple iPhone 13 series starts at Rs 69,900 and going up to Rs 1,29,900 for the Pro Max.

WATCH | Click on Zee Business Live TV Streaming Below:

The iPhone 13 Pro is available a starting price of Rs 1,19,900 for the base 128GB option, while the prices for the other storage versions are: Rs 1,29,900 (256GB), Rs 1,49,900 (512GB) and Rs 1,69,9 00 (1TB). The iPhone 13 Pro comes in graphite, gold, silver, and all-new sierra blue color options. I reviewed the iPhone 13 Pro in silver color and here are my views about this new incredible device from Apple. Let me tell you beyond the stunning design, iPhone 13 Pro has some key internal ingredients which will elevate the whole experience to a brand new level in the ongoing festive season.

The iPhone 13 Pro is probably the only model to offer genuinely useful features without creating a fuss around those that will hardly come to use in everyday life. I have been using this device for more than two weeks and I feel the iPhone 13 Pro is the best camera smartphone in 2021. Like its predecessors, this mobile phone is also a stylish and powerful phone to look out for. Redesigned inside and out, the Apple iPhone 13 Pro introduces 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.  

In terms of design, the rear glass on iPhone 13 Pro has a frosted look and a matte texture. The Apple iPhone 13 Pro is non-slippery, lightweight, and easy to carry.  The sides of the iPhone 13 Pro are made of surgical-grade stainless steel and they are shiny and give premium look. Also, you will notice that the iPhone 13 Pro is slightly thicker and heavier than iPhone 12 Pro.  The iPhone 13 Pro display has rounded corners that follow a beautiful curved design, and these corners are within a standard rectangle. The iPhone 13 Pro is IP68 water and dust resistant, and also uses Apple's Ceramic Shield material on the front which is said to be more resilient than standard glass.  The notch shape of the Apple iPhone 13 Pro is now shorter but deeper. iPhone users can easily spot the difference. The Ceramic Shield front cover increases drop performance by four times from previous glass on iPhones, which is a great addition to safeguard your device from accidental damages. One thing is common between iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 12 pro - both the devices come with a textured matte glass back finish. When it comes to design and looks in the super-premium smartphone category, no other brand or smartphone comes closer to this beautiful beast from Apple. Trust me, you will have zero complaints when you want to flaunt your phone in your group or anywhere.

 
After seeing all kinds of rear panels, I crave simplicity and I was impressed with the iPhone 13 Pro. Another good thing about the iPhone 13 Pro is, the device is not slippery and it does not attract fingerprint marks on the rear side of the device. Like the other iPhones, the iPhone 13 Pro is extremely handy and weighs 203 grams only. As I said earlier, the iPhone 13 Pro is easy to hold you can carry in hands without any discomfort. Overall, the looks of this device are very premium and appealing.  The smartphone features a premium flat-edge look, crafted with materials including the surgical-grade stainless steel band, a durable finish that is resistant to abrasion and corrosion. The power and volume buttons are on the right and left respectively on iPhone 13 Pro. The mute switch on the left side is quite handy.

The Apple iPhone 13 Pro comes with a 6.1-inch all‑screen OLED display with 2532x1170-pixel resolution at 460 PPI. The iPhone 13 Pro display has rounded corners that follow a beautiful curved design, and these corners are within a standard rectangle. The smartphone supports a 120Hz maximum refresh rate, DCI-P3 wide color gamut, and 1000nit brightness (1200nit peak for HDR). It offers the most accurate and natural color reproduction and colors came bright on-screen even in direct sunlight. I did not face any issues while using the display in all light conditions. It comes with an IP68 rating to withstand water submersion up to 6 meters for up to 30 minutes, and are protected against everyday spills. The overall experience with Apple iPhone 13 pro display was fast, smooth, and phenomenal. Also, the Apple iPhone 13 Pro speakers deliver clear and loud sound. This is probably one of the best mobile phones when we talk about audio performance.  This is the brightest display ever on iPhone with up to 25 percent higher max outdoor brightness, at 1000 nits, so users will experience amazing resolution, color, and contrast whether casually scrolling through the web or watching HDR videos.

In terms of camera performance, enabled by the A15 Bionic chip, on the rear side, the Apple iPhone 13 Pro comes with a triple camera setup --  a 12MP primary camera with an f/1.5 aperture, a 12-megapixel camera with an f/1.8 aperture, and a 12MP camera with an f/2.8 aperture. The smartphone has a single front camera setup -- a 12MP sensor with an f/2.2 aperture - for selfies and video calls. With new sensors and lenses for all three rear cameras, optimized 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 comes with a massive improvement in low-light situations, up to 2.2x when compared to iPhone 12 Pro. Sensor-shift optical image stabilization (OIS) — unique to iPhone — is available on both models, stabilizing 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 percent 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.  iPhone 13 Pro and 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. For the first time ever, Night mode comes to all cameras on iPhone 13 Pro, including the Telephoto camera, and with Smart HDR 4, you 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 also offers popular features like Deep Fusion, Apple ProRAW, and Portrait mode with Portrait Lighting.

The camera mode offers various in-built features including - brand new Cinematic mode.  Cinematic Mode essentially applies a Portrait-like depth effect to video backgrounds and automatically switches focus between subjects based on who is looking at the camera and who is speaking. It can also react to subjects entering or leaving frames, or simply turning their heads. Apart from the camera specifications, the software also makes a major difference in the eventual images you get. You can expect brighter, sharp, and colorful pictures even in low-light settings, especially when you take pictures at night. I found that pictures in Portrait modes came out pretty brilliant. The device captured sharp, high-resolution, and detailed images and videos in both bright and low lighting conditions. This iPhone 13 Pro has indeed captured more accurate and natural-looking colors to the photos. Enabled by A15 Bionic and advanced machine learning algorithms, Cinematic mode records in Dolby Vision HDR. iPhone 13 Pro also has ProRes, 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. The device provide an end-to-end workflow — capture, edit, and share in Dolby Vision or ProRes.

The iPhone 13 Pro runs on an A15 Bionic chipset, much faster than the competition, delivering more performance and better power efficiency. With 5-nanometer 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 percent 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 percent 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. While playing games like Battlegrounds Mobile India, Garena Free Fire, Asphalt 9: Legends, and Call of Duty: Mobile on this phone, I witnessed lag-free gaming. The graphic quality on the advanced setting was excellent. Overall the gaming experience on iPhone 13 Pro was fast. Also, I watched several movies, IPL matches, and web series including The King: Eternal Monarch, Vincenzo, and more. Also, switching between the apps and using multiple social media platforms was easy and the experience was amazing. Audio performance is a big plus here if you plan to buy the iPhone 13 Pro. The bottom speaker did produce high-quality sound while playing games and watching videos.

Also, the latest 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 recognize 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. 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.

Apple has brought major battery life improvements to the iPhone 13 Pro. On the battery front, iPhone 13 Pro offers good battery life and lasts for almost a day on basic-to-moderate usage better than iPhone 12.  iPhone 13 Pro delivers incredible all-day battery life, offering up to two and a half more hours in a day than iPhone 12 Pro. Battery life lives up to claims of being far better than before. Also, when I played heavy games for longs hours, the device lasted for more than 18 hours. The good thing is we didn't face any heating issues on this phone during heavy gaming sessions and during video streaming. The battery performance was good when the low power mode was off during heavy usage. Also, the smartphone supports fast charging and it can reach from 10 percent to 100 percent in a couple of hours. Alternatively, you can buy the company’s new MagSafe charger, which magnetically attaches to the back of your phone. And please remember the company is not shipping charging adaptors with the phones anymore. You only get the Type-C to Lightning Cable inside the box which can be used with any adaptor.  

Apple iPhone 13 Pro verdict:  Available at a starting price of Rs 1,19,900, the iPhone13 Pro is the best premium smartphone to buy in 2021 when it comes to design, performance, looks, and professional work. If you are a photographer, capture beautiful professional-quality images and If you have 12 Pro, this is a true upgrade and will upend your experience with several big enhancements.  If you are spending more than Rs 1 lakhs on a smartphone, iPhone 13 Pro is the right choice. The device is a pro performer and it won't disappoint you.