I’ve been using my iPhone 13 Pro for 2 years and 2 months. Let me remind you that the model was released in September 2021, when the current flagships were Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro and OnePlus 9 Pro.
Apple keeps its word; at the software level, the smartphone still feels like it came out of the box.
Looks perfect too. In terms of features, the only things I miss are the Always On screen from the iPhone 14 Pro and the rounded edges from the iPhone 15 Pro.
But the smartphone has it achilles heelwhich not only reveals its age, but makes it borderline unusable.
Now my battery life is 78%, three days ago it was a percentage higher. In the settings, advice pops up every now and then to go for service, and the interest after removing it from charging melts before our eyes.
This is especially sad after a seemingly good start when purchasing.
How bad is it? But look.
I charge 4 times a day
I looked at the indicators when the smartphone was completely new, and it became sad. In his review he said that he “put it on the battery and did not regret it.”
Two years later, I issue an official refutation: I still regret it.
When I first pulled the iPhone 13 Pro out of the box, a full charge lasted me from 10 a.m. to midnight. 100% gave 7 hours 13 minutes of screen time.
After two years, a smartphone taken at 10 am lasts up to 15 pm maximum. A 100% charge gives only 3 hours 40 minutes of screen time. Just 7 months ago the result was about 4 hours 30 minutes.
In the meantime, the A15 Bionic processor is really there in abundance; a year and a half after the purchase, the Pro console finally began to earn its name.
Have you noticed that Shorts have started appearing on the site? from our YouTube channel. I edit them partly in desktop Premiere Pro, and partly in CapCut on the iPhone, voice-over and add subtitles there. This is the most convenient and indispensable way to make videos in terms of mobility, and it’s also free. And you can only do this on a smartphone.
And, of course, the CapCut application eats up your battery. Thanks to the chip, everything works smoothly and instantly, but with such runtime, the iPhone 13 Pro seems like a demo version of a normal editing tool.
This brings to mind the Apple Vision Pro with its two hours of battery life. With my 4 hours, the bottom apparently hasn’t been broken yet
I still can’t imagine how the helmet will work, which won’t last even for one Nolan film. But I can already imagine, looking at my smartphone, that people simply will not leave the sockets.
Whether you like it or not, you’ll think about buying a larger model next time. Well, it’s simply impossible, really. Today I went outside with 30% charge, and while I was answering friends on Telegram, the phone died in half an hour. Being outside the house without charging with such autonomy is generally unreliable.
As a result, it turns out that with a working cellular module the smartphone has enough screen time for 3 hours and 40 minutes.
I put emphasis on connections, since there is something to compare with.
Works tolerably only in one scenario
Comparison of battery performance in airplane mode and with a mobile Internet connection. Don’t pay attention to Mintal Tracker, it only worked when connected to the network. I will share my experience of this cool application in the coming days
I spent the last three months of 2023 in Istanbul. Local laws have a peculiarity: smartphones are blocked from communication 4 months after being imported into the country; in 2024, lock the authorities demand 60,000 rubles (this is not a joke).
Since I also spent the beginning of the year in Istanbul, in April the connection disappeared and did not return.
The solution is simple – distribute the Internet from a second smartphone, and disable the cellular module in the main device.
Because of this, in fact, my iPhone 13 Pro was always in Wi-Fi mode and only in this state could it at least survive until the evening. I took photographs while walking, edited videos, used instant messengers as usual, and the average screen time was about 6 hours 10 minutes, almost twice as long.
And this can be seen on the graph. On Friday I flew out of Istanbul, there was a connection, and the ladder quickly crawled up.
Apple has come to terms with the small battery. And we will have to
For two years I hoped that the company would come to its senses and supply the 6.1-inch models with a large battery. I’m sure they are well aware of the situation.
I recently told you why Apple stubbornly refuses to add fast charging to its smartphones. One of the reasons is that batteries with its support are discharged and lose their resource faster, so they must be larger.
The iPhone manufacturer is always reluctant to increase the physical size. This is at least an additional cost.
Look for yourself, after the meager operating time of the iPhone 13 Pro, the company from generation to generation increased the batteries by a couple of percent maximum to compensate for the always-on screen or increased brightness, but left the overall figure in the same place.
Batteries of 6.1-inch firmware from recent years (smartphone thickness in brackets):
iPhone 15 Pro 3,274mAh or 23 hours of video (8.25mm)
iPhone 14 Pro 3,200mAh or 23 hours of video (7.85mm)
iPhone 13 Pro 3,095mAh or 22 hours of video (7.65mm)
iPhone 12 Pro 2,815 mAh or 17 hours of video (7.4 mm).
It’s difficult to judge where this obstinacy comes from, given that every year smartphones grow in thickness. If the iPhone 12 Pro was a thin sheet of steel with its 7.40 mm, then in the iPhone 15 Pro the rounded edges help hide its swollen 8.25 mm – a record for Apple since the iPhone 4 (9.3 mm).
Therefore, I don’t think that the potential iPhone 16 Pro with an increased diagonal of up to 6.3 inches will gain much in autonomy. Perhaps the iPhone 16 Pro Max will have better luck, as it always has. After all, the iPhone 13 Pro Max battery of our editor-in-chief Nikita Goryainov still holding up the day.
But we, lovers of small – or slightly smaller than giant – smartphones will have to come to terms with the cost of replacing the battery in two years immediately after purchase.
How are your iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro doing? We already have complaints.
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iPhones.ru I have been using my iPhone 13 Pro for 2 years and 2 months. Let me remind you that the model was released in September 2021, when the current flagships were Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro and OnePlus 9 Pro. Apple keeps its word; at the software level, the smartphone still feels like it came out of the box. Looks perfect too. By function…
Pavel
@novrapture
I have 4 new years: regular, my own, WWDC and the September Apple presentation. The last one is the most anticipated, and there is not a bit of shame about it.
- To ←
Samsung Galaxy S24 will go on sale in Russia this week
- After →
The first clones of the Apple Vision Pro helmet have been released. Cost $500, here’s a review
