Apple iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max: Big new cameras and 120Hz displays

Ever since the iPhone 11 Pro, we’ve come to expect a new Pro and Pro Max version of Apple’s smartphones every year. The Cupertino-based tech giant have just announced the new lineup of iPhones which Tim Cook claims is their most ‘pro’ iPhone ever: the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max.

Just like it’s smaller siblings the iPhone 13 Pro is powered by the A15 Bionic, which promises to be up to 50% faster than the competition, whoever that may be. It’s a 6-core CPU, with 2 performance cores and 4 efficient cores, while alongside it is a 5-core GPU, which is 1 core more than the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini gets. You’ll also find a host of upgrades such as a new video encoder, ISP, display engine and a 16-core neural engine capable of 15.8 trillion operations per second.

As for the displays, the iPhone Pro comes with a 6.1-inch, 2532 x 1170 pixel resolution Super Retina XDR OLED display, while the iPhone 13 Pro Max bumps that up to a 6.7-inch, 2778 x 1284 pixel resolution screen. The star feature here is the ProMotion 120Hz adaptive refresh rate, a feature that many were originally expecting to show up in last year’s iPhone Pro lineup. You also get 1000nits of brightness compared to the 800nits on the iPhone 12 Pro, and that goes up to 1200nits during peak HDR mode. There’s True Tone, Haptic Touch, HDR and Dolby Vision too.

The rest of the phone is mostly similar to the iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max of last year. There’s the flat-edge design that wraps the edges with a surgical-grade stainless steel band for abrasion and corrosion resistance, while the back is a textured glass matte back finish. Apple have also given the front of the device the usual Ceramic Shield treatment, while at the top you’ll notice a notch that Apple says is 20% smaller than before and houses the front camera and the tech needed for Face ID.

Camera-wise is where the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max really stand out over last year’s devices. It’s still the same triple 12MP camera setup on the rear, but it’s slightly bigger and thicker for a reason. Apple’s new cameras house a new main camera with a 1.9µm sensor, the biggest seen on an iPhone yet. It’s paired with a f/1.5 aperture and Apple claims up to 2.2x better shots in low light situations compared to the iPhone 12 Pro. And of course, there’s also Apple’s sensor-shift optical image stabilisation at work.

That gets flanked by an upgraded ultrawide camera with an even wider f/1.8 aperture and a new autofocus system, allowing for macro photography at distances as close as 2cm via the ultrawide lens. Meanwhile, the new 77mm telephoto camera offers 3x optical zoom. Apple has also added night mode capability to all three lenses. Videography on the iPhone 13 Pro gets a huge improvement too thanks to both the new cinematic mode for rack focus shots and ProRes video recording capable of up to 4K at 30fps. The 12MP front camera will also be able to use these features.

Other features of note include a longer battery life, with Apple claiming that the iPhone 13 Pro lasts 1.5 hours longer than the iPhone 12 Pro while the iPhone 13 Pro Max lasts 2.5 hours longer than the iPhone 12 Pro Max. There’s also more 5G bands supported on the new generation of devices, as well as a ‘smart data mode’ to automatically switch to LTE when 5G speeds are overkill. Furthermore, the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max has IP68 dust and water resistance along with sapphire crystal camera lenses. You won’t find a charger in the box, though there’s still a USB-C to Lightning cable at least.

The iPhone 13 Pro will start at RM4,899, while the bigger iPhone 13 Pro Max will retail for RM5,299 onwards. Notably, both the iPhone Pro and Pro Max are now available in a massive 1TB storage configuration, the biggest they’ve ever been. It’ll be available in Sierra Blue, Silver, Gold and Graphite. You’ll be able to start pre-ordering them from 1st October onwards.

For more information on the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max, you can check out their product pages on the Apple website.