The iPhone 13 Pro/Pro Max vs iPhone 12 Pro/Pro Max

Like last year, Apple has done a lot to differentiate its Pro offerings. The question is whether its worth it?

So, it's finally happened. After all the exciting wait and rumours, Apple's iPhone 13 series will soon be out in the wild. If you want our roundup of the event, you can check that out here or maybe you want to see how the base iPhone 13 models stack up against the previous generation. We got you covered.

For those of you, who are interested in the Pro models, you are likely asking yourself if it's worth upgrading to 13 Pro/Pro Max? Good question.

Specifications

The real changes are on the inside. At the heart of the experience is Apple's 6-Core A15 Bionic chip with 2 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores. If you buy the Pro versions of the phone you also get a 5-core GPU instead of the 4-core GPU.

Apple says that the chipset is the fastest on any smartphone yet and going by their track record, it would be hard not to agree. But is that enough incentive for you to shift? Would you pay extra for a faster processor? If you already own the iPhone 12 Pro or Pro Max, I think you can wait another year. If you are on the iPhone 11, then the 13 is a good upgrade.

Another thing Apple has been touting is the video capabilities of the new phone. It has something called Cinematic Mode which allows to shift focus in real time between various subjects or objects, similar to focus shifts in films.

It is interesting technology for sure but it's also the first generation of the software and while Apple showed off the Pro phones being used by Hollywood directors, those were likely in controlled environments.

The most interesting addition is the ProMotion displays. We finally have dynamic 120Hz screens on the iPhone. Sadly, they are restricted to the Pro models which is a shame considering Android phones have had them for a while now and you are paying nearly Rs 70,000 for a new iPhone 13 mini.

Regardless, Apple only wants to give you the 120Hz displays if you cough up Rs 1,19,900 which is a steep asking price.

The prices of the new phones are similar to the iPhone 12 Pro/Pro Max when they were launched last year. So you are looking at a starting price of Rs 1,19,000 for the Pro and Rs 1,29,990 for the Pro Max.

Our verdict is to wait it out if you own the iPhone 12 Pro or Pro Max. That 120Hz display and faster chip is nice but its not worth falling head over heels just yet.

Surprisingly, the absence of the 12 Pro and the 12 Pro Max from Apple's store tells us that they will likely be discontinued and the 13 Pro models will be your only options for those looking to upgrade. It makes sense since the 12 Pro models haven't seen the drastic price cut that the base 12 series phones have got and are more likely to cost just as much as the 13 Pro models.