IPhone 12 vs IPhone 13: What Are The Differences, And Which Is A Better Buy

With Apple having launched the new iPhone 13, the big question is whether to upgrade to the new iPhone 13 or buy the iPhone 12. Which one is better? In the course of this article, we would be explaining a few of these things.

The iPhone 13 price in India starts at Rs 79,900 for the base 128GB model.

Soon after the iPhone 13 launch, Apple slashed the prices of the iPhone 12 in India.

The iPhone 12’s price starts at Rs 65,900 for the 64GB model, Rs 70,900 for the 128GB, and Rs 80,900 for the 256GB model.

At its “California streaming” event, Apple uncovered the all-new iPhone 13 with a similar-looking design and some much-needed under the hood upgrades. But, same as every year, the big question now is whether you should buy last year’s iPhone 12, which has now received a price cut in India. Or, go for the latest iPhone 13, which brings some modifications that many tech experts pinpointed for the iPhone 12 last year.

Apple, during the keynote, differentiated the iPhone 13’s battery life from that of the iPhone 12 and no guesses for which was better. Then, there’s the all-new slimmer display notch. The iPhone 13 packs a smaller notch, which is the first change we have seen to the notch since the launch of the iPhone X in 2017.

The iPhone 13 will be available in all-new Pink, Midnight, Blue, and Starlight colors. It will also be available in the red color. The iPhone 12, on the other hand, will be available in Green, White, Black, Blue, Purple, and red colors.

iPhone 12 vs iPhone 13: Prices

To begin with the prices, the iPhone 13 starts at Rs 79,900 for the all-new 128GB base model, which is finally the storage bump Apple users have been asking for for years. Then, there’s a 256GB storage model priced at Rs 89,900, and the top trim now is the 512GB model at Rs 109,900. Apple has smartly upgraded the storage models across the entire iPhone 13 range and removed the 64GB base model while adding a 512GB option for the iPhone 13 and 13 mini while offering the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max models in a 1TB storage model. If pricing is your biggest concern, then the iPhone 13 isn’t as costly as the iPhone 12 at launch. But, of course, we are here talking about the launch prices of both the iPhone 13 and iPhone 12.

Coming to the iPhone 12, which has received a price cut soon after the launch of the iPhone 13. The iPhone 12 now starts at Rs 65,900, an almost Rs 14,000 price cut from the earlier price for the 64GB model. The 128GB model comes at Rs 70,900 while the 256GB model at Rs 80,900.

But if you look closely at the prices, it makes sense to pay slightly extra and go for the iPhone 13 128GB model, which packs major upgrades. The iPhone 13 goes on sale in India from September 24, while interested consumers can pre-book starting this Friday.

iPhone 12 vs iPhone 13: Design, Display

The iPhone 13 sports a flat-edged design, the same as the iPhone 12. But, that’s true only till the time you don’t observe the differences more closely. Starting with the display notch, Apple says that the new iPhone packs a smaller notch that’s almost 20 percent smaller than what we saw on the iPhone 12. Then, the dual cameras on the iPhone 13 can be seen in diagonal placement at the back instead of the straight as seen on the iPhone 12.

Apart from these two design changes and new color options, there’s not much difference between the iPhone 13 and the iPhone 12. Even the screen size, for that matter, is identical. And, unfortunately, the iPhone 13 Pro models get the new 120Hz screen, but the iPhone 13 models are still stuck at a 60Hz refresh rate. Both the iPhone 13 and iPhone 12 models come with the same 6.1-inch display.

iPhone 12 vs iPhone 13: Camera

The iPhone 13 comes with an all-new dual-camera system along with a sensor-shift OIS feature, which was seen on the iPhone 12 Pro Max last year. The 12-megapixel wide camera on the iPhone 13 gets an f/1.6 aperture that can offer 47 percent more light-gathering than the iPhone 12. In addition, the iPhone 13 gets the Cinematic mode that can record Dolby Vision HDR. The iPhone 13 will also support HDR video recording with Dolby Vision. The new iPhones support 4K up to 60fps on all cameras. Apple has introduced new camera features like Photographic Styles, Smart HDR 4, and more. The company also brings Night mode on all cameras. These are some of the highlights camera features of the iPhone 13.

iPhone 12 vs iPhone 13: Processor, Battery Life

Well, in these two departments, the iPhone 13 beats the iPhone 12 hands-down. Apple claims that the A15 Bionic chipset makes the iPhone 13 the fastest iPhone ever made and claimed performance improvements over the iPhone 12’s A14 Bionic chip.

The A15 Bionic chip packs a six-core CPU with two high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores. While Apple didn’t mention the improvements over the A14, the company did say that the A15 is up to 50 percent faster than the competition and GPU performance is up to 30 percent faster than the competition. While we will have to wait for the reviews to tell us what’s more capable. The iPhone 13 will support 5G, the same as the iPhone 12.

Coming to the battery life, Apple made some tall claims when it comes to how the battery life on the iPhone 13 compares to the iPhone 12. During the keynote, Apple claimed that the iPhone 13 would offer about 2.5 hours longer battery life than the iPhone 12. This means that the iPhone 13 packs a bigger battery unit and explains why the thickness has slightly gone up on the new iPhone models.

Overall, the iPhone 13 feels like a better buy than the iPhone 12, especially considering the battery improvements. Apart from the battery, the minor design changes won’t make much difference, and the same goes for the performance.

OUR VERDICT

The iPhone 13’s brighter display, longer battery life, and powerful cameras make it the best iPhone for the money. But we wish it had faster charging and the iPhone 13 Pro’s adaptive 120Hz display.

Pros

Brighter display

Great cameras

Compelling Cinematic video mode

Class-leading performance

Very good battery life

Cons

Lacks 120Hz display

Slower charging than rivals

Cinematic mode capped at 1080p