The iPhone 13 (or whatever it’s called) didn’t make an appearance at WWDC 2021 , but we’ve now seen a preview of the …
The iPhone 13 (or whatever it’s called) didn’t make an appearance at WWDC 2021, but we’ve now seen a preview of the iOS 15 developer beta, which gives us some key information about the iPhone 13’s new features. (You can download iOS 15 right now if you’re curious, but we don’t recommend it.) Beyond software, we’ve also been hearing a lot lately about the iPhone 13’s color options. First it was the pink iPhone leak heard round the world. And then it was a sleek, matte black color option, as reported by EverythingApplePro on YouTube, courtesy of leaker Max Weinbach. We’ve collected these rumors and everything else we’ve heard below, including speculation about the iPhone 13’s release date (rumors say September, as usual), how the iPhone 13 might compare to the iPhone 12, and everything we know about the iPhone 13’s price, cameras and other specs. (And don’t miss our iPhone 13 wish list.) Read more: Should you even still buy an iPhone 12? What if you really want the purple iPhone? According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, we should expect to see four models again this year: the iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Mini, iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max — just like the iPhone 12 lineup. We have a few more months of speculation before Apple unveils its next flagship, so buckle up and read on. We’ll update this story as new information becomes available. A rumor from Chinese social media platform Weibo in early June suggested that the iPhone 13 lineup will feature larger batteries than the iPhone 12 lineup. The specs, shared on Twitter by leaker @L0vetodream, claim a 2,406mAh battery for the iPhone 13 Mini, going up to 3,095mAh for the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro, and 4,325mAh for the iPhone 13 Pro Max. These battery sizes are all upgrades over the iPhone 12’s respective capacities (though Apple doesn’t disclose official battery specs). However, battery life is not the same as battery capacity, so it’s possible that the increase in iPhone 13’s battery size will not translate into a longer battery life. That all depends on the phone’s other upgrades and how well its software optimizes for battery life. But compared with other brands‘ premium phones, Apple’s batteries fall short. The batteries in Samsung’s Galaxy S21 lineup, for example, range from 4,000 to 5,000 mAh. Read more: iOS 15: Release date, new features and every rumor, detailed So far, there’s no official or unofficial word on when we can expect to see Apple’s next iPhone. An April report suggested the manufacturing of the iPhones‘ new chips were running ahead of schedule, putting the iPhone 13 release date back on Apple’s pre-pandemic timeline. Usually, we can predict with some degree of accuracy when Apple’s iPhone events will occur and extrapolate a release date based on that. But 2020 was a different story — it was the first September Apple event in eight years without an iPhone — thanks to delays in production due to the coronavirus pandemic. This year, however, Kuo is also forecasting business as usual for Apple’s supply chain. If that’s the case, we can expect to see the iPhone 13 unveiled at an event sometime in September. Let’s synthesize the info we have: A few years ago, CNET took a deep dive into the Apple event timeline and emerged with a compelling Labor Day hypothesis, which you can read about here. Based on the 2021 calendar, the Labor Day rule would put the September Apple event (and unveiling of the iPhone 13) on Sept.8, with a Sept.17 release date. Read more: iPhone 13 wish list: What Apple needs for its next phone to succeed We’re going with the name „iPhone 13“ for now, but the moniker is not a sure thing. Considering high-rise buildings tend to omit the 13th floor from their elevator buttons for superstitious reasons, Apple could succumb to its own triskaidekaphobia and skip the number 13. Read more: iPhone 13 might be the phone that never hits shelves. Here’s why people think so iPhone 12S is a worthy guess for the name of Apple’s next generation of iPhones. Just as 2014’s iPhone 6 gave way to 2015’s iPhone 6S and 2017’s iPhone X preceded 2018’s iPhone XS, without a major redesign in the works (more on that below), the 2021 iPhone is just as likely to be positioned as an improvement on the iPhone 12. Or maybe Apple will take a page out of Samsung’s book and name its next phone after the year of its conception: iPhone 2021 has a nice ring to it. Or what about the iPhone XXI? Or, dare to dream, Apple could go in a completely different direction and name it something fun, like the Motorola Citrus or LG Chocolate of yore.
