The new iPhone 13 or iPhone 12S is coming in 2021, and here’s what we expect the iPhone 13 to bring to Apple’s line of smartphones.
Apple’s iPhone 13 – or perhaps the iPhone 12S – is almost certain to be the new iPhone for 2021, and if you’re considering an upgrade it may be the next smartphone you buy. Thanks to a variety of iPhone 13 leaks and rumors, we’re beginning to get a clear picture of what to expect from the main handset as well as the iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max. Last year’s iPhone 12 family brought 5G connectivity, a refreshed design and a new powerful chipset to the mix. What should you expect on the iPhone 13? We’ve got every detail you need to know about below. We’ve heard from all different types of sources not to expect any humongous upgrades, as rumors point to the company focusing on refining the design, improving the internals, and perhaps even bringing in more powerful cameras that take sharper photos and better night shots. Plus, there’s every chance the new iPhone won’t be called the iPhone 13. We’ve discussed whether Apple will opt to call this upcoming phone the iPhone 12S in a specific section you can find below. Below you’ll find everything we know so far about the next iPhone, including our best guess at an iPhone 13 release date, and a selection of things we want to see Apple introduce in its 2021 handset. When can you expect to be able to buy a next-gen iPhone? We expect the iPhone 13 release date to be set for September 2021, but that may be subject to change given the Covid-19 pandemic. For the last 10 years, Apple has consistently introduced its flagship phones at an event near the start of September and released the phones 10 days later. All that changed in 2020, due to the pandemic, and the phones were delayed beyond their usual window. The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro were pushed back to October, and the other two devices – the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max – were released in November, reportedly due to a lack of parts for the manufacturing process. Apparently this delay resulted in increased sales for the phones. If we were betting on a date, we’d expect Apple to move its iPhone 13 release date back to September 2021, and indeed at least one well-respected Apple analyst agrees with us. Another analyst has since said the same, with the iPhone 13 range apparently going on sale in the third week of September – meaning an announcement earlier in the month. However, one or more models might not hit stores until October. The iPhone 13 range is seemingly on track for this September launch too, as we’ve elsewhere heard that its chipset will start shipping to Apple by the end of May. That’s actually supposedly ahead of schedule, as the goal was apparently for it to enter production by the end of May. That’s all relevant because the iPhone 12’s didn’t enter production until late June of last year. Little is known about the price of the iPhone 13, but we’d expect it to be a similar level to the iPhone 12 family. Those handsets cost more than the 2019 phones – the iPhone 11 series – but that’s because of the addition of 5G and a few other technical elements. We’ll be sure to include more 2021 iPhone price leaks and rumors as we hear them, but below you can see the prices for the iPhone 12 series that we’re relatively confident will be similar next year. You may think with the iPhone 13 release date so far in the distance that we wouldn’t know much about the next-gen phone, but a variety of sources have shown us some things to expect on the next iPhone. First off, we’re expecting four members of the iPhone 13 family. Those are likely to be – but this isn’t guaranteed – the iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max. The company focused on three models until 2020, when it introduced the mini model as the fourth handset in the iPhone 12 family. Most rumors suggest that’ll continue in 2021. If any model gets dropped it would probably be the mini, as the iPhone 12 mini reportedly hasn’t sold well, but rumors suggest Apple will still make an iPhone 13 mini (though perhaps in place of an iPhone SE 3). Below you’ll find the bulk of the iPhone 13 rumors, split into different categories. We’re expecting similar designs to the iPhone 12 family, and the screen technology is likely to be similar as well because the company made big upgrades to that element of the iPhone 12. A recent rumor suggests that Apple will manage to trim down the camera bump this year, as well as introduce a matte black option for the Pro models of the phone, reworked from the current graphite. One thing rumored for the iPhone 12 that didn’t come to fruition was the addition of a high refresh rate display. Rumors suggest that may be introduced on the iPhone 13, and that’ll make the display look smoother when playing games or scrolling through your social media feed. That technology may also work in a similar way to what we’ve seen on the company’s iPad Pro lineup where it is able to vary the refresh rate depending on what activity you’re doing on your phone. Multiple rumors have suggested the 120Hz refresh rate feature may be incoming, and that includes reports from DigiTimes as well as well-placed analysts that have further suggested this tech might only be on two of the four anticipated iPhone 13 models. Maybe this means the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max will have 120Hz screens while the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini, or whatever they end up getting called, won’t. One of the sources of this claim (Korean site The Elec) has since reiterated it, adding that industry sources say the top two models will get a 120Hz screen. That site has also now added more details, claiming that Samsung will be the sole supplier of these 120Hz panels. It’s also now claimed that Samsung Display is in the process of converting its iPhone screen production line into one that makes this sort of screen. Ming-Chi Kuo (an analyst with a great track record) has also said to expect a 120Hz screen on the Pro models. In fact, there’s a chance it will have an even higher refresh rate, as an Apple patent talks about a phone with multiple refresh rates, possibly topping out at 240Hz – which is a rate no mainstream phone currently offers. But patents often don’t develop into features, so we’d take this with a pinch of salt.
