Apple: iPhone 13 Release Date, Price, Features, Specs & News

The iPhone 13 series is official, and here’s what you need to know:

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The iPhone 13 series is official, and here’s what you need to know:

The iPhone 13 series are now official, having been unveiled at the September 14 Apple event. We’ve got everything you need to know about the new handsets, including the all-important pricing and release date info.

This year’s models are the iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPhone 13 Pro Max, but this article is just focused on the standard model and the mini. 

Highlights include a powerful new A15 Bionic chipset, some impressive-sounding camera upgrades, and improvements to the battery life and screen. Read on to learn everything we know so far about the next generation of iPhones.

iPhone 13: cut to the chase

• What is it? Apple’s next big series of smartphones
• When is it out? September 24, announced September 14
• How much will it cost? Starts at $699 / £679 / AU$1,199 for cheapest model

iPhone 13 release date

The iPhone 13 series was confirmed on September 14 at the company’s big launch event, and you’ll be able to pre-order the handsets from Friday, September 17.

September 24 is the iPhone 13 series release date, and unlike 2020’s iPhone 12 series you’ll be able to buy each of these handsets on the same day.

What day does the iPhone 13 come out?

Friday September 24 2021

iPhone 13 price

The iPhone 13 starts at $799 / £779 / AU$1,349, and the iPhone 13 mini starts at $699 / £679 / AU$1,199. That’s for 128GB of storage, which in the US and Australia matches the price of the 64GB variant of the iPhone 12 last year. 

In the UK they’re actually slightly cheaper than the launch prices of the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini.

iPhone 13 design and display

The iPhone 13 features a flat-edge design, and has the Ceramic Shield glass we saw on the iPhone 12 series. It’s also IP68 dust and water resistant (to a depth of six meters for up to 30 minutes).

There are five new colors, which are Pink, Blue, Midnight, Starlight and Product Red.

The design is largely similar to the iPhone 12 series, so if you own one of those phones you’ll likely know what you’re getting here. The notch is slightly smaller – Apple says it’s 20% smaller – so there’s a bit more space on the screen.

The iPhone 13 and 13 mini are slightly thicker than last year’s models though, at 7.65mm compared to 7.4mm for their predecessors.

As for the display, the iPhone 13 features a 6.1-inch 1170 x 2532 display while the iPhone 13 mini features a 5.4-inch 1080 x 2340 screen. They’re both Super Retina XDR displays, which use Apple’s own custom OLED technology.

Each phone still features a 60Hz screen refresh rate, which matches with the rumors.

MagSafe also makes a return on all the iPhone 13 handsets, so you’ll be able to use any accessories you bought last year for your iPhone 12, while Apple has introduced some new accessories as well.

iPhone 13 camera

The iPhone 13’s camera block has a new design, with the lenses arranged diagonally for the first time, rather than vertically.

There’s a 12MP wide camera, and a 12MP ultra-wide shooter (with a 120-degree field of view). Both feature new sensors, and Apple says they can take better photos than the cameras on the iPhone 12. The wide camera has an aperture of f/1.6, and the ultra-wide camera has an f/2.4 aperture.

Performance in the dark should also be improved, with Apple claiming the main snapper can capture 47% more light than its predecessor, and that the ultra-wide can reveal more detail in dark areas.

The range also benefits from sensor-shift optical image stabilization, which should keep shots steadier.

All of the iPhone 13 models also include a new Photographic Styles camera feature that lets you selectively apply adjustments to add a custom look to your photos, and a Cinematic mode for videos, which lets you create depth effects and focus transitions.

The phones also all include a 12MP f/2.2 selfie camera on the front, like their predecessors.

iPhone 13 specs and performance

The iPhone 13 series all come with Apple’s A15 Bionic chipset inside, which Apple claims has an up-to 50% faster CPU and 30% faster GPU than the competition.

It also includes a new 16-core Neural Engine that’s capable of 15.8 trillion operations every second. All of these handsets are also 5G-compatible, as were the iPhone 12 series.

You’ll have the option of 128GB, 256GB or 512GB of storage in the iPhone 13 duo – Apple has finally got rid of its 64GB option for its flagship iPhones, and that means more storage in the cheapest variant.

iPhone 13 battery life

According to Apple, the iPhone 13 mini will last 90 minutes longer than the iPhone 12 mini, while the iPhone 13 will last 2.5 hours longer than an iPhone 12.

In terms of specific life, the iPhone 13 mini can apparently manage up to 17 hours of video playback, while the iPhone 13 is said to be capable of 19 hours.

This has mostly been achieved by a variety of optimizations through the A15 chipset and iOS 15 software. Apple has yet to confirm the size of the battery in the iPhone 13 models, and it’s unlikely we’ll know that until someone opens up a handset and finds out manually.

As on the iPhone 12 series, you won’t get a charger in the box with any iPhone 13 model. You’ll need to use your existing charger, buy one separately, or use wireless charging.

That wireless charging is up to 15W, which will give you a respectable speed but won’t match what some Android phones are capable of.

Blog Sources: TechRadar