If you always buy the best of the best, no matter the price, you won’t be considering any iPhone model below the new iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max. Of course, just like with any new generation, you get better power and general refinements. However, the main selling points of the new iPhone 13 Pro models are their camera capabilities, which Apple characterizes as the most significant leap ever. Apple seems to be targeting amateur and professional video creators who could open up a whole new market for ultra-premium smartphones.
Speaking of premium, let’s talk about pricing. The iPhone 13 Pro starts at Rs. 1,19,900 with 128GB of storage, going up to Rs. 1,29,900 for 256GB, Rs. 1,49,900 for 512GB, and Rs. 1,69,900 for the new 1TB tier. The larger iPhone 13 Pro Max costs Rs. 10,000 more for the same four storage variants, which comes to Rs. 1,29,900 for 128GB and Rs. 1,39,900 for 256GB 1,59,900 for 512GB, and a whopping Rs. 1,79,900 for 1TB.
This is the first time that Apple has offered an iPhone with 1TB of space, and, surprisingly, there are four storage options for the same phone simultaneously. That’s a huge spread, with the top-end versions of each model offering 8X as much space as the base versions. There is one slightly odd restriction with 128GB units – you can only record ProRes video at 1080p 30fps, while the three higher storage tiers let you record 4K 30fps. This might be due to lower write bandwidth or because Apple doesn’t want you to run out of space too quickly – benchmarks might reveal more once these phones are out in the wild.
You also have four color choices – Graphite, Silver, Gold, and Sierra Blue- this generation’s new signature color. Apple’s launch event and promotional pictures make Sierra Blue look light and bright, which would have been surprising. In the real world, it seems more like a blue-grey and is very subtle and slick. Apple says it developed a new “nanometre-scale” ceramic deposition process to create the Sierra Blue finish.
The rear glass on iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max has a frosted look and a matte texture. Both phones are thankfully non-slippery, though the flat sides and pronounced edges make the more significant iPhone 13 Pro Max a bit hard to grip. The bands around the sides of both phones are made of surgical-grade stainless steel – these are pretty shiny and prone to picking up fingerprints. Unlike the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini, which have a new rear camera module design, virtually nothing sets the two high-end models apart from their iPhone 12-series predecessors unless you buy one in Sierra Blue. Once you pick up either of these phones up, you might notice that the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max are slightly thicker and heavier than their predecessors.
