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Apple iPhone 13 Pro review: Still the best you can get

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How does the iPhone 13 Pro stack up against the competition several months into its life? Turns out, it’s still a winner in our updated review.
Let’s get this out the way now: The iPhone 13 Pro is the new iPhone model you should buy. You’ll remember the iPhone 12 Pro Max had bigger camera sensors, giving it better lowlight performance and 3x optical zoom, rather than 2x. Not so this time. The iPhone 13 Pro is the same as the 13 Pro Max (aside from battery capacity and screen size, of course). so you don’t have to bust your hand or your wallet to get the top features. Add into the mix the powerful A15 Bionic processor, 120Hz ProMotion display, battery life that can last almost two days, and excellent camera performance, and you have the best iPhone 13 model in the entire lineup. We’ve been using it since launch day, and have updated our review to reflect its performance many months into its life cycle. The iPhone 13 Pro comes in five different colors, including the Sierra Blue seen in our photos, along with Alpine Green, silver, gold, and graphite. Both the front and the back are protected by Apple’s Ceramic Shield glass, and a squared-off stainless steel strip runs along the sides, setting it apart in quality from the cheaper aluminum of the iPhone 13. All the standard buttons are present including the Ring/Silent switch and volume buttons on the left and the power button on the right to activate Siri and toggle the screen on and off. There are also bottom-firing speakers on either side of the Lightning port. Yes, Apple has stuck to its proprietary Lightning port, which may frustrate those who own devices that use USB Type-C, including the iPad. There are rumors Apple may switch to USB Type-C for the 2023 iPhone. The iPhone 13 Pro is slim at 7.65mm, but quite heavy at 203 grams. This puts it in the same league as the Samsung Galaxy S22+, OnePlus 10 Pro, and its predecessor, the iPhone 12 Pro. The squared-off sides of the iPhone 13 Pro aren’t especially comfortable to grip, although the phone is usable with one hand. Using a case does improve the ergonomics. The relatively compact dimensions mean it easily slips into your pocket and goes unnoticed. If you choose the iPhone 13 Pro Max to get the larger screen, you will start pushing the limits of one-handed use. Like all the other iPhone models, the iPhone 13 has IP68 dust and water resistance, along with a special glass Apple calls Ceramic Shield. It’s supposed to better protect the screen from scratches, which it seems to do well, but don’t expect it to avoid them completely. In our first week of testing, the screen picked up a gouge that was not really visible unless the light reflected on it. Eight months into ownership, our long-term iPhone 13 Pro has collected a variety of similar small scratches, likely coming from being put into pockets and bags. None affect visibility, and they’re only spotted when the screen is off. We still recommend a screen protector. The notch at the top of the screen is 20% smaller than the notch on the iPhone 12 Pro, but because it’s also a bit deeper, this doesn’t mean the screen has a meaningful amount of extra usable screen real estate. Face ID unlocks the iPhone 13 Pro and it’s still the most secure face unlock system you’ll find on a phone, plus it’s highly accurate too. It works in almost all lighting conditions, at surprisingly varied angles, and through a recent iOS update, it operates when you’re wearing a face mask too. On the back, the camera module is pretty similar in design to the iPhone 12 Pro. There’s a large, squarish camera housing with three cameras inside, but because each camera sensor is bigger this time, the camera bump protrudes from the back of the phone a bit more. It’s a fair trade-off for the improved camera performance. The overall design of the module has matured nicely, with the glass sections and stacked camera layout minimizing the visual impact. The iPhone 13 Pro may not look drastically different from the iPhone 12 Pro, but the design has been refined and subtly improved, and it’s still one of the classiest phones you can buy. The build quality is superb, the materials used are proving durable over time, and the choice of colors gives the iPhone character. Of the many selling points for the iPhone 13 Pro, one of the biggest is the screen, and that doesn’t apply just to size. It’s a 6.1-inch Super Retina OLED screen with great color accuracy, a 2,532 x 1,170 resolution, and 460 pixels per inch (ppi) density. It’s sharp and bright, viewing angles are great, and it can hit 1,000 nits in brightness with a boost to 1,200 nits for HDR content. Outdoor visibility is excellent even in direct sunlight, and the screen also supports HDR10 and Dolby Vision. That’s all fantastic, but what really sets it apart is the 120Hz ProMotion high refresh rate. ProMotion is a technology that first hit the iPad Pro series in 2017, letting Apple increase the refresh rate from the standard 60Hz to 120Hz for different kinds of content. This has become standard on Android flagship phones, but it’s a tech that Apple has been slow to adopt outside the iPad Pro, so it’s great to see it on both the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max. What’s particularly unique about Apple implementation of ProMotion is that the iPhone 13 Pro uses a low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) panel, meaning that it’s able to dynamically vary the refresh rate from as low as 10Hz when doing something basic like browsing to up to 120Hz for something demanding like rapidly scrolling or gaming.

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