iPhone 13 and 13 mini review: Just like the iPhone 12, only a little better

28/12/2022 / turkeywilliams

The iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini are modest evolutions of their previous version: the improved battery and the smaller notch are significant bonuses, but the Cinematic mode is not not yet mature enough to become indispensable.

Is the iPhone 13 a revolution? No – and it is all the less so since it is in its Pro version that we find the most technically impressive discreet improvements.

To go furtherOur test of the iPhone 13 Pro

However, is the iPhone 13 a good Apple smartphone? Undeniably. And the little new features brought by Apple, without a year-on-year price increase, are welcome to make it a perfect transition smartphone before, perhaps, a more reworked iPhone 14.

Apple presented, during its keynote on September 14, 2021, its new iPhone range: the iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max, which are in pre-orders since September 17, and will begin to be delivered on Friday September 24, 2021.

The iPhone 13 and 13 mini are available in 5 colors, some of which would have nothing to envy Pokémon attacks (starlight, midnight, blue, pink and the famous red (PRODUCT) Red). We carried out this test with the iPhone 13 mini in "midnight" color (a kind of black that turns dark blue in the sun), with a MagSafe compatible shell.

We combined the iPhone 13 and the iPhone 13 mini in one test: the two devices are the same, except for the format and the price. So what is this “improved” version of the iPhone 12 worth? Here is our full test.

Find the whole iPhone 13 range

The iPhone 13 and the iPhone 12: the game of the 7 differences

You don't need to have the compass in your eye to notice it: the iPhone 13 has very few aesthetic differences with its predecessor. We find the same flat edges, in an "aerospace quality aluminum", rounded edges, the glass back at the back, the "Ceramic Shield" protection... In terms of sensations and handling, we find the same pleasant feeling of having a product that is both thin, elegant and finished, although robust.

However, when you are used to using Apple smartphones, you will still notice the slight difference in weight (173 grams for the iPhone 13 against 162 grams for the iPhone 12, and 140 grams for the 13 mini against 133 grams for the iPhone 12 mini). Added to this is a difference in thickness, almost invisible to the naked eye, but which is felt much more markedly when the shell (we tested the one provided by Apple, MagSafe compatible) is threaded around the 'device.

The Apple iPhone 13 mini

Source: Numerama/Louise Audry

When you put the iPhone 12 mini and the iPhone 13 mini side by side with their respective official cases, you can even see the difference in size without having to measure them. We feel it at the rear in particular, since there has been a change in the positioning of the sensors (with two lenses with a larger diameter and now positioned diagonally), the hull is slightly more in relief, and takes so a little more room in a pocket.

So of course, we remain on a detail that may seem negligible (it is a difference of 0.25 mm between the two, which can be explained by the slightly larger battery that was installed on the inside), but when you invest in an iPhone mini, it's above all for its compact size. After being used to having a small Apple smartphone in hand, it is still slightly difficult for us to get used to the very slightly thicker format of the iPhone 13 mini with cover.

iPhone 12 mini (left) and iPhone 13 mini (right) with diagonal lenses

Source: Numerama/MT

Moreover, it is not possible to put the shell of the 12 mini on the 13 mini: within a few millimeters, it does not fit correctly, which forces the purchase a new MagSafe protection sold between 55 euros (for the silicone version) and 65 euros (in leather). And yes, even if the iPhone mini is smaller, the shell will cost as much as for a normal or a Pro Max.

To go furtheriPhone 12 versus iPhone 13: what are the differences between the two Apple phones?

The smaller notch on the front (and invisible in Apple's com')

It's one of the most visually striking changes: Apple has managed to reduce the size of its famous notch on the front, on board iPhones since 2017 (with the iPhone X) to integrate a set of sensors called TrueDepth, which allow including how Face ID works.

iPhone 13 (left) and 13 mini (right)

Source: Numerama/MT

iPhone 13 (left) and 13 mini (right)

iPhone 13 and 13 test mini: Just like the iPhone 12, just a little better

Source: Numerama/MT

Paradoxically, this is one of the innovations on which Apple insisted the least during its conference: we just know that the size of the notch has been reduced "by 20%" to leave more space on the screen. However, the firm could have put more emphasis on this small technical feat, given how difficult it is to make all the necessary hardware coexist (an infrared camera, an infrared illuminator (a kind of flash) and a "point projector", not to mention the usual front camera) in such a small space.

Very concretely, the firm has in fact raised the loudspeaker further up the screen in order to fit the 4 sensors below – whereas on the previous ranges, the loudspeaker was integrated in the middle of the sensors. The notch is now shorter on the sides (2.8 cm instead of 3.4 cm), but not higher (it is 9 mm).

In use, it must be admitted that the result is not overwhelming; we notice that the bar takes up a little less space at the top of the screen, but the notch is still quite invasive when consulting the usual sites. A silly example: on Facebook's Messenger application, the top bar is especially disturbing in height, not in width.

The notch on Messenger on the iPhone 12 mini versus the iPhone 13 mini

Source: Numerama/MT

A brighter screen on the iPhone 13

The screen of the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini (OLED Super Retina XDR) is 28% brighter than its predecessor, with a maximum brightness of 800 nits (standard) compared to 625 nits for the 12. Paradoxically, the management of True Tone seems to be managed a bit differently compared to the 2020 model: at equal brightness, the 12's screen seems slightly "whiter" while than that of the iPhone 13 mini tends to be yellow more often.

To go further Which iPhone to buy in 2021?

The A15 processor of the iPhone 13

The Apple site has a page dedicated to comparisons of the technical characteristics of its smartphones. The part dedicated to the A15 Bionic chip could make you smile, as it gives relatively little information, with the exception of: "everything is new". The 6-core processor? New. The 4-core GPU? New too. The 16-core Neural Engine? Also new! For what result? “Faster than the competition.”

You will have to dig into the details to see that this chip has 15 billion transistors on board, compared to 11.8 billion for the A14, which gives it more raw power, and to also realize that there are has two A15 chips, one for the iPhone 13 Pro and one for the iPhone 13. We also understand, on closer inspection, that the main focus has been on artificial intelligence, with the “15, 8 trillion (one thousand billion) operations per second” that the chip would be able to perform. More figures, however, would have been welcome – especially to find out what competition Apple compares to, for example.

A14 and A15 chip comparison

Source: Apple

Really improved autonomy

In fact, we really want to believe in all the improvements touted by the firm: the A15 chip makes it possible to better optimize the autonomy of the smartphone (in short , constantly calculating where and how to allocate the amount of energy needed for each operation so that autonomy suffers as little as possible), which is really improved.

This was the big weak point of the iPhone 12 mini, which could drain in less than a day with light use. Here, we can last 24 hours without problem: during the night, the battery (a little larger) hardly drops. During the day, we can chain phone calls, photos and videos without worry: shooting a 15-minute video without stopping will lower our battery by 5%.

Apple talks about a gain of 1h30 of autonomy on the iPhone mini, and 2h30 on the classic iPhone 13 compared to the 12.

A day of battery life on the iPhone 13 mini

The iPhone 13 device captures more light

Apple has been making great camera phones for years; its iPhone 12 Pro Max is also clearly one of the best in this area since 2020. Thanks to some improvements, the new iPhone 13 allows you to go even further upmarket in terms of videos and photos, in particular by inheriting the sensor top end of last year's 12 Pro Max. Its advantage? Capture more light, thanks to larger photosites.

In the shots we took, positioning ourselves in the same place with an iPhone 12 mini and an iPhone 13 mini, we indeed observe not only the light is much better captured (it must be said that Apple speaks of 47% more light), but also better processed. For example below, the delicate hairs of the Dino soft toy stand out better and are a little clearer, and you can clearly see what is happening at the level of the window on the right of the image, whereas in the photo of the iPhone 12 mini, this part is completely overexposed.

The wide-angle on iPhone 13

The big change brought by the iPhone 13 is at the level of its mechanical stabilizer on the wide-angle sensor. At the level of this same wide-angle, we therefore switch to photosites of 1.7 μm, which is what there was on the iPhone 12 Pro Max: this is the “largest sensor” put on an iPhone of this size, specifies the firm at the apple.

On iOS 15, switching from x1 to x0.5 (ultra wide-angle) mode has been made more fluid thanks to a double button, unlike before, when you had to tap the (x1) button to be able to zoom out.

A very beautiful llama photographed in normal mode x1 with the iPhone 13 mini

Source: Numerama/MT

A very beautiful lama in wide angle x0.5 with the iPhone 13 mini

Source: Numerama/MT

The llama captured in x2 mode

Source: Numerama/MT

The llama photographed with a 5x zoom

Source: Numerama/MT

A photo with the iPhone 13