Apple iPhone 13 Pro review

Apple iOS 15

All new iPhones come with Apple's iOS 15 out of the box. It's not a significant update over iOS 14, but it does introduce minor cosmetic changes like rounding off many UI elements shapes such as settings menus and icons, notifications, buttons. The new version improves heavily on FaceTime and Messages, Notification management, Safari browser (now with extensions), Wallet and Maps. It also makes Photos and Spotlight even more intelligent - the Photos app can now read and let you copy text in real-time.

The iOS interface is still based on homescreens populated with apps and stackable widgets. App Library holds all your apps, with automatic sorting and is the de facto app drawer. There are also the familiar Notification Center and Control Center.

Apple's iOS 15 has improved notification profiles based on different automations, which are great for those who receive many notifications per day. There is also a new Summary option to get you up to speed after a silent period.

The navigation gestures stay the same as they were on the iPhone X. Swipe upwards from the bottom line to close an app, swipe and stop midway for task switcher, swipe from the side of the screen for back and forward. You can also swipe on the line left or right to switch to your recently used apps instantaneously.

Lockscreen • Homescreen • Widgets • App Library • Notifications • Control Center

One of the most important updates in iOS 15 is in FaceTime. The new app looks more and more like Zoom, and it now supports Grid view. It has a cleaner interface, optional background blur, spatial audio, and most importantly - it can make conference calls, and non-Apple users can join the fun, too, by using an invite link and Chrome or Edge web browser.

Apple users can enhance their microphone with Voice Isolation or Wide Spectrum and let others hear them much better.

FaceTime

The Safari web browser has seen quite the upgrade. First, the address bar is now at the bottom of the screen, easily accessible, and you can swipe on it left or right to switch tabs (in portrait mode) just like you fast scroll between apps via swipes on the infamous line. And second, Safari now supports extensions; you can download such from the App Store.

Safari

Siri is Apple's digital assistant used by 400+ million people monthly. Shortcuts is a robust environment for automating tasks which may seem daunting at first but are well worth exploring. Multimedia is handled by Apple's own apps - Photos for your images and video clips, TV for movies and Apple TV+, Music for MP3s and Apple Music, and Maps for navigation.

Siri • Shortcuts • Photos • TV • Music • Maps

There is Files for your local files, Books are here for your documents, PDFs, and eBooks. Stocks and News are onboard. There is Weather app, too. Apple also offers its office suite for free - Pages, Numbers and Keynote. iMovie and Clips are also onboard, so you can edit your videos - there is newly added support for Cinematic shorts captured on the new iPhone 13 mini camera.

Files • Books • Socks • Weather • Numbers

Performance and benchmarks

The latest Apple A15 Bionic chip powers all iPhone 13 models. It is the second 5nm Apple chip (second-gen 5nm TSMC process) and packs 15 billion transistors - that's 27% more than the A14 within the iPhone 12 phones. It keeps the hexa-core processor architecture with 2 big Avalanche cores maxing out at 3.23GHz and 4 small Blizzard cores.

There is an improved 5-core Apple GPU for the Pro models and 4-core Apple GPU for the non-Pros. The 13 Pros have 6GB of RAM, up from the 4GB of the non-Pros.

The 13 Pro posted virtually identical numbers to the 13 Pro Max pretty much across our entire benchmarking suite. As expected, its performance under CPU-intense loads is way superior to what you'd get out of any of the latest Androids. Meanwhile, it's not a huge improvement over last year's model, but there is a difference.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
  4706
• Apple iPhone 13 Pro
  4687
• Apple iPhone 13
  4645
• Apple iPhone 12 Pro
  4056
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  3636
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  3521
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  3518
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  3515
• Xiaomi Mi 11
  3489
• Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  3441
• Oppo Find X3 Pro
  3316
• Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  3294
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  3244
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  3244
• Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  3239
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  3191

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
  1741
• Apple iPhone 13
  1727
• Apple iPhone 13 Pro
  1709
• Apple iPhone 12 Pro
  1611
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  1130
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  1126
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  1126
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  1117
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  1109
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  1109
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  1107
• Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  1095
• Xiaomi Mi 11
  1085
• Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  988
• Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  979
• Oppo Find X3 Pro
  926

Antutu once specifically mentioned cross-platform benchmark comparisons are best avoided, so we'll only compare the 13 Pro against members of its own family. There's a visible year over year improvement, and the A15 is easily the most powerful of the As.

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
  801691
• Apple iPhone 13 Pro
  794348
• Apple iPhone 13
  775519
• Apple iPad mini (2021)
  766065
• Apple iPhone 12
  692020
• Apple iPad 10.2 (2021)
  617292

The iPhone 13 Pro puts out massive numbers in GFXBench, and such GPU-centric loads are where the extra core in the Pro's chip proves to be an advantage over the regular A13's lesser GPU. Again, same as on the 13 Pro Max, we're seeing the 13 Pro is capped at 60fps in the onscreen tests, preventing us from getting the real numbers.

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 13 Pro
  181
• Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
  178
• Apple iPad mini (2021)
  161
• Apple iPhone 13
  150
• Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
  135
• Apple iPhone 12 Pro
  132
• Apple iPhone 12
  132
• Apple iPhone 12 Pro
  132
• Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
  120
• Apple iPad 10.2 (2021)
  104

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
  60
• Apple iPhone 13 Pro
  60
• Apple iPhone 12 Pro
  60
• Apple iPhone 13
  60
• Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
  60
• Apple iPad mini (2021)
  60
• Apple iPhone 12
  60
• Apple iPhone 12 Pro
  60
• Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
  60
• Apple iPad 10.2 (2021)
  55

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
  121
• Apple iPhone 13 Pro
  119
• Apple iPad mini (2021)
  108
• Apple iPhone 13
  98
• Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
  78
• Apple iPad 10.2 (2021)
  70
• Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
  67
• Apple iPhone 12 Pro
  64
• Apple iPhone 12 Pro
  64
• Apple iPhone 12
  58

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
  60
• Apple iPhone 13 Pro
  60
• Apple iPad mini (2021)
  60
• Apple iPhone 13
  59
• Apple iPhone 12 Pro
  58
• Apple iPhone 12 Pro
  58
• Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
  57
• Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
  55
• Apple iPhone 12
  53
• Apple iPad 10.2 (2021)
  44

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 13 Pro
  60
• Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
  55
• Apple iPhone 13
  55
• Apple iPhone 12 Pro
  47
• Apple iPad mini (2021)
  47
• Apple iPhone 12 Pro
  47
• Apple iPhone 12
  45
• Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
  42
• Apple iPad 10.2 (2021)
  33

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
  50
• Apple iPhone 13 Pro
  50
• Apple iPad mini (2021)
  40
• Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
  40
• Apple iPhone 13
  34
• Apple iPad 10.2 (2021)
  32

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 13 Pro
  9760
• Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
  9751
• Apple iPad mini (2021)
  9092
• Apple iPhone 13
  8986
• Apple iPhone 12
  7996
• Apple iPad 10.2 (2021)
  7537

We also got practically the same results for long-term performance out of the 13 Pro that we saw on the 13 Pro Max. That's 77% for CPU stability and 67% for the GPU - hardly breathtaking numbers, but it's good to know that the smaller and thus potentially less capable of heat dissipation handset is on the same level as its bigger brother.

APSI Bench Long-term load CPU test • 3DMark Wild Life stress test