iPhone 13 vs iPhone 12 Comparison (Specs, Performance & More)
iPhone 13 vs iPhone 12
Apple has released the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro lineup during the California Streaming keynote. Let’s compare them with the iPhone 12 devices and conclude if an update is justified or not. iPhone 11 owners or earlier, don’t need a specs comparison, because the differences are considerable!
iPhone 13 vs iPhone 12 Specs Comparison
Below you can find a comparison of the most important specs:
iPhone 13 Pro v iPhone 12 Pro Size Comparison
The iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro models have an almost identical design with the iPhone 12 lineup. However, there are some differences. The 2021 flagships are slightly bigger and thicker. This is most likely caused by the thicker batteries.
iPhone 13 models are 3,23% Thicker
All iPhone 13 devices are 7.65mm thick compared with the 7.4mm measured for the iPhone 12 units!
Fact: The camera bump on the backside is also bigger which could cause most iPhone 12 cases not to fit on the iPhone 13.
iPhone 13 vs iPhone 12 Weight Comparison
iPhone 13 mini vs 12 mini – 141 grams vs. 135 grams (approx. 5% difference)
iPhone 13 vs 12 – 174 grams vs 164 grams (6%)
iPhone 13 Pro vs 12 Pro – 204 grams vs 189 grams (8%)
iPhone 13 Pro Max vs 12 Pro Max – 240 grams vs 228 grams (5%)
iPhone 13 vs iPhone 12 Notch Comparison
The iPhone 13 notch is 20% smaller compared to the iPhone 12 and all other notched iPhone models starting with the iPhone X.
Fact: The overlay presented above also depicts that the iPhone 13 notch is a tiny bit taller, a detail not mentioned by Apple in the keynote.
Side Note: As shown on Twitter, It appears that the increased screen real estate is still not enough for the battery percentage to be displayed in the status bar.
iPhone 13 vs iPhone 12 Performance Comparison
Apple markets the iPhone 13 and 13 Pro as having 50% faster CPU and 30% faster GPU as any other competitor. Let’s see if this confirmed by benchmarks and how they compare to the respective iPhone 12 models.
iPhone 13 Pro vs iPhone 12 Pro GPU
Benchmarks published online have shown that the iPhone 13 Pro has an up to 55% higher GPU score when compared to iPhone 12 Pro.
To be more specific iPhone 13 Pro vs iPhone 12 Pro GPU Metal score is 14216 vs 9123.
iPhone 13 vs iPhone 12 GPU
The difference is smaller when comparing the iPhone 13 vs iPhone 12 GPU results: 10608 vs 9016. That’s around 15%.
Fact: An explanation for this is that although the iPhone 13 lineup packs the A15 bionic chip, there are differences when it comes to the iPhone 13 Pro (5-core GPU) and the iPhone 13 (4-core GPU)
CPU Comparisons
In terms of CPU the differences are similar across the entire iPhone 13 lineup because both regular and Pro models pack a 6-core CPU arhitecture.
Score: Early benchmark tests show a 10% increase for Single-Core and 18% increase for Multi-Core performance when compared to the iPhone 12!
RAM comparison
Apple did not mention any details about the built-in RAM of the new iPhone lineup, but early Geekbench tests confirm that the RAM hardware remains unchanged when compared to the iPhone 12.
That’s 6GB of RAM for the iPhone 13 Pro and 4GB of RAM for the standard 13 and 13 mini models.
iPhone 13 vs iPhone 12 Battery Comparison
The iPhone 13 models come with improved battery life when compared to the iPhone 12. In fact, Apple claims that the iPhone 13 Pro Max provides the longest battery life on an iPhone ever!
iPhone 13 mini v iPhone 12 mini
According to Apple the newer model lasts on average 1.5 hours longer!
The iPhone 13 mini can handle up to: 17 (vs 15) hours of video playback, 13 (vs 10) hours when streaming and up o 55 (vs 50) hours of audio playback.
iPhone 13 v iPhone 12
Overall the 2021 model lasts on average up to 2.5 hours more!
The iPhone 13 supports: up to 19 hours (vs 17 hours) of video playback, 15 hours (vs 11 hours) when streaming and up to 75 hours (vs 65 hours) of audio playback.
iPhone 13 Pro v iPhone 12 Pro
Similar, the Pro lineup lasts on average 1.5 hours longer than the iPhone 12 Pro models.
The iPhone 13 Pro scores: up to 22 hours (vs 17 hours) of video playback, 20 hours (vs 11 hours) of streaming and up to 75 hours (vs 65 hours) of audio playback.
iPhone 13 Pro Max v iPhone 12 Pro Max
Lastly, the biggest 2021 iPhone lasts around 2.5 hours longer than its predecessor.
The iPhone 13 Pro Max can handle: up to 28 hours (vs 20 hours) of video playback, up to 25 hours (vs 12 hours) when streaming the content and up to 95 hours (vs 80 hours) of audio playback.
Charging: iPhone 13 models are charged at up to 15W with MagSafe, and up to 20W fast charging with the respective USB-C power adapter.
iPhone 13 vs iPhone 12 SAR Comparison
Apple hasn’t updated the SAR values for the 2021 iPhone flagships. They will most likely provide them tomorrow right before the start of the iPhone 13 pre-orders. We will update this section as soon as more info is available.
iPhone 13 vs iPhone 12 Pricing
The iPhone 13 pricing lineup is similar to the one used last year. However, price increases are noticeable for the highest storage options.
- The iPhone 13 mini starts at $699 for 128GB of storage but goes as high as $999 for the 512GB version!
- The iPhone 13 is available for $799 and reaches $1099.
- iPhone 13 Pro starts from $999 and tops at $1499 for the 1TB storage option.
- The iPhone 13 Pro Max with 1TB of storage retails for a whopping $1599, which qualifies it as the most expensive iPhone ever!
Do you plan to upgrade from the iPhone 12 to the iPhone 13? Which are the specs that convinced you to do it. What’s missing? Use the comments section to share your feedback.
Related: For more iPhone 13 features and specs check our detailed review!
