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iPhone 13 Pro Unboxing Sierra Blue!

8:47 video

It’s iPhone 13 day, and this is the iPhone 13 Pro in Sierra Blue, after I unboxed the 13 mini in (PRODUCT)RED, probably my favorite-looking iPhone ever. Like all iPhones this year, there’s no plastic wrap on the box, just tabs to pull.

Color and design

It’s blue: not the bolder Pacific Blue of last year, but a nice sky blue, light blue or baby blue. The lenses are massive, even bigger than the 13 mini’s, and the sensor size is a big difference compared to my 12 Pro. In the box: a Lightning to USB-C cable, regulatory information, a SIM tool and stickers. The notch is about 20% smaller, with the earpiece moved to the top wrapped in a little metal encasing. The buttons and ports are as on the 12 Pro; physically it looks very similar apart from the color, larger sensors and smaller notch. It’s a tad thicker than my 12 Pro, because of the bigger battery.

Display

Same 6.1-inch display with HDR, True Tone, Haptic Touch and P3, but with ProMotion: adaptive refresh rates up to 120 Hz. Swiping up to unlock, or scrolling, there’s no lag or blur: I could tell from the first second, before even setting it up. It adapts between 10 Hz (static page) and 120 Hz, so it won’t kill battery life, and if you’ve used an iPad Pro, you know the feeling. Brightness is up 20%, from 800 nits to 1,000 nits, and HDR stays at 1,200 nits.

Battery and chip

Apple says the 13 Pro gets another hour and a half over the 12 Pro, and the 13 Pro Max an extra two and a half hours over last year’s Pro Max. The A15 is similar to the 13 and 13 mini’s (and the iPad mini’s) but with a 5-core GPU instead of four, and a six-core CPU (two performance, four efficiency).

Cameras

  • A new wide lens at f/1.5, an ultra wide at f/1.8 and a telephoto at f/2.8.
  • Sensor-shift stabilization, first on the 12 Pro Max, now on all this year’s iPhones, helping with shaky hands and moving subjects.
  • A 3x telephoto (about 77 mm equivalent) for things farther away.
  • Macro mode on the ultra wide, as close as 2 cm.
  • Photographic Styles: standard, rich contrast, rich cool, warm or cool, adjustable to your taste (cool but not that cool), applied to all photos you take, not just a filter on one.
  • Cinematic mode: uses AI to dynamically change focus, tracking what you might be pointing to and switching back and forth, probably better with people in the video, with a shallow depth of field that can be edited afterward. I’m not sure how often I’ll use it, but it’s super interesting, and people will find cool uses.

Case

I picked up a case for the 13 Pro (not the mini, since I love that red too much to cover it): Apple’s silicone case in Marigold, which looks good with the Sierra Blue as a contrast with the orange. Because the camera sensors are bigger, the case itself has a bump (the 12 Pro’s case didn’t), so the phone wobbles on a table with or without a case.

The story will be the battery life, the cameras and the Pro display. Let me know your questions in the comments so I can try to answer them in my full review.

Some links in this post are affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I may receive a small commission. See my ethics statement.

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