Apple has announced that the new iPhone 13 is coming and people are excited about what new upgrades that it has Apple has in store for it. Just to be clear, all these are based on rumours and leaks online. Nothing is certain about the new iPhone 13 until it is officially released.
The iPhone 13 will get a bigger battery
The first rumours that is spreading is that the new phone could get a bigger battery. The iPhone 12’s battery life is good; it could last a whole day after doing numerous tests on it. But it’s far from being the phone with the best battery life. In a test conducted by CNET, the 12 Pro lasted 15 hours, 56 minutes; the iPhone 12 lasted 17 hours, 14 minutes in a test with looped video playing in airplane mode. The Samsung Galaxy S21, with its 4,500-mAh battery, lasted 18 hours, 3 minutes in the same test. The Galaxy S21 Ultra and its 5,000-mAh battery lasted 22 hours, 57 minutes. And both of those phones have a high refresh-rate display, which can tax the battery more. We do hope that this rumour is true, I mean, who does not want a better battery life?
High refresh-rate display
The iPhone 12 comes with a 60Hz screen, in comparison to other phones that have high refresh-rate but are priced differently from the iPhone. For example, the OnePlus Nord N10 5G, which has a 90Hz display. The Galaxy A52 5G, the Galaxy S21 and the S21 Ultra each have a 120Hz display. In April, Asus launched the ROG Phone 5, which has a 144Hz screen. And in March, the RedMagic 6 phone was announced with a 165Hz screen.
We need a high refresh rate simply to make everything look better. That sweeping generalization aside, animations and graphics look sharper, motion blur is reduced, games (especially those designed for high refresh rate screens) seem more immersive and vivid. There are new rumours that the “Pro” models will get LTPO displays. LTPO stands for low-temperature polycrystalline oxide. Essentially, an LTPO display can change between refresh rates on the fly without the need for extra display hardware. The Galaxy S21 Ultra released in February uses an LTPO display, which Samsung claimed allowed it to be brighter without using more power.
No ports on the iPhone
Ever since iPhone ditch the headphone jack with the iPhone 7, there has been speculations that Apple would completely make a port-less phone. It is not that hard to imagine a port-less iPhone with Apple’s launch of MagSafe charging on the iPhone 12. However, the next version of MagSafe would need to be more powerful to be a reasonable replacement to physical charging. The current MagSafe charging tops out at 15 watts. Compare that with the 20-watt charging you get with a Lightning-to-USB-C cable and wall charger. OnePlus has a wireless charger called the Warp Charge 30 that can charge at 30 watts.
Brand new cameras
There have been rumours circulating about the cameras on the iPhone. All the rumours point towards new lenses, new camera sensors and a wider adoption of sensor-based stabilization across the iPhone line up. The iPhone 13 Pro could get a larger sensor for its wide camera. This rumour doesn’t indicate whether it will be exactly the same as the one on the iPhone 13 Pro Max or not. But the larger sensor could incorporate sensor-based stabilisation, which is currently only on the iPhone 12 Pro Max model. The iPhone 13 Pro is also rumoured to get the same or similar telephoto camera as the 13 Pro Max. There are also a few rumours about a new ultrawide camera either on the iPhone 13, or iPhone 14. The ultrawide camera on the 13 might get better low-light performance and a faster aperture lens. Currently, the lens on the ultrawide is f2.4, but the new lens could be f1.8, which certainly would help toward improving low-light performance.
Touch ID will likely make a comeback
Rumour has it that the iPhone 13 could get an under-the-display fingerprint sensor, and it will serve as a way to alleviate the frustration of having to use Face ID to unlock your phone (especially with the pandemic and wearing a face masks). If the iPhone 13 gets an in-screen fingerprint reader, it’s not clear whether this would replace Face ID or be in addition to it. However, according to Forbes, Bloomberg’s respected Apple insider Mark Gurman has now confirmed his earlier tip-off that Apple has scrapped its plans to reintroduce Touch ID on the iPhone 13 range. So that basically means that probably there’ll be no Touch ID now? Maybe we’ll have better luck with the iPhone 14.
