The iPhone 13 is now two years old, so many users will likely want to upgrade, and the most obvious candidate is the iPhone 15, which will be released in September 2023.
The ordinary iPhone 15 was released alongside the iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max, and while any of them would be a significant advance over the iPhone 13, only the iPhone 15 itself has a pricing that is even remotely comparable.
So, how much of an advance is the iPhone 15? We have thoroughly evaluated the iPhone 15, so we can certainly answer that question. The following compares the old iPhone 13 and the new iPhone 15.
IPHONE 15 VS IPHONE 13: SPECS COMPARISON
Before we go into detail about the similarities and differences between these two phones, we’ve compiled a list of the major specifications below so you can see how they compare at a glance.
CAMERA
The iPhone 15’s camera is where you get the most bang for your buck. It has several enhancements, including a higher-resolution primary sensor and crisper zoomed-in photos. The iPhone 15 replaces the 12-megapixel primary lens found on Apple’s usual flagship since the 6S with a 48-megapixel camera. The ultra-wide, however, is identical to the iPhone 13: a 12-megapixel f/2.4 lens with a 120-degree field of view. The iPhone 15’s 12-megapixel selfie camera sports a bigger f/1.9 aperture, allowing it to catch more light in low-light circumstances.
The iPhone 15 also receives a couple of useful software tricks: it automatically captures depth information in the basic photo mode so you don’t have to manually switch to Portrait, and you can convert a normal photo into a Portrait later in the Photos app. Furthermore, it uses the main sensor’s capacity to capture a larger volume of pixels to digitally recreate a real telephoto lens, resulting in a much cleaner 2X zoom. The iPhone 15’s camera improvements are difficult to notice in bright light. Photos and videos taken with both the iPhone 15 and iPhone 13 are well-lit, crisp, and have a good mix of highlights and shade.
However, when I enlarged several of those images, I noticed the iPhone 15’s fifth-generation Smart HDR (rather than the 13’s fourth-generation) in action. It highlights your scene’s backdrop and foreground. In contrast, the iPhone 13 tends to blow up the highlights and emphasizes the topic. Furthermore, because the iPhone 15 is equipped with Apple’s Photonic Engine, it better captures the scene’s original texture, skin tones, and color, particularly in Portrait mode, where the subject’s features are even more enhanced.
The Photonic Engine’s effects, which take many uncompressed photographs before your actual shot to gather more information about what you’re snapping, are especially noticeable in low-light situations when combined with the iPhone 15’s higher-resolution camera. Whereas the iPhone 13 struggles to keep indoor evening images (such as those taken at a bar) from becoming grainy and out of focus, the iPhone 15 produces results that are richer in detail and significantly less fuzzy.
The iPhone 15 allows you to snap photographs in significantly greater resolution, giving you more flexibility for later adjustments. Furthermore, while the iPhone 15’s 2X zoom cannot compete with a specialized telephoto lens, it produces better images than the iPhone 13. films taken with both phones are identical, but the iPhone 15 has two distinct advantages: its 48MP camera produces fewer lens flares at night, and it includes Action Mode, which keeps your films stable even when you move.
DESIGN AND DISPLAY
The iPhone 13 sports a glass back, an aluminum frame, a square camera block, and a flat-screen with a notch cut into the top. Most of this is also true for the iPhone 15, with one notable exception: this phone has a Dynamic Island rather than a notch, making it appear much more current from the front.
Other differences include the iPhone 15’s usage of color-infused glass on the back, which makes colors appear warmer than on the iPhone 13. The iPhone 15 colors are blue, pink, yellow, green, and black, while the iPhone 13 colors are Product (RED), Midnight (black), Starlight (white), blue, and pink. Another minor design change is that the sides on the iPhone 15 are slightly curved, whereas they are flat on the iPhone 13.
However, the iPhone 15 has the same IP68 dust and water-resistant rating as the iPhone 13, as well as a similar weight and dimensions, measuring 147.6 x 71.6 x 7.8mm and weighing 171g, whereas the iPhone 13 measures 146.7 x 71.5 x 7.7mm and weighs 174g.
The iPhone 15 has a 6.1-inch 1179 x 2556 OLED display with a refresh rate of 60Hz, while the iPhone 13 has a 6.1-inch 1170 x 2532 OLED display. So both screens are quite comparable, but the newer phone can reach 2,000 nits of brightness, whereas the iPhone 13 maxes out at 1,200 nits.
HOW’S THE PERFORMANCE?
The iPhone 15 has a superior A16 Bionic chip and an additional 2GB of RAM (6GB versus 4GB). While both phones’ processors are powered by a 6-core CPU and a 16-core Neutral Engine for on-device intelligence, the A16 has one more core inside its GPU and 50% greater memory bandwidth. In Geekbench tests, the iPhone 15 scored almost 10% higher.
As the benchmark results show, there isn’t much distinguishing between the two. Each works well in day-to-day tasks, and I have yet to experience a stutter on either of them, even when I try to multitask between resource-demanding chores. Despite the GPU gains, the iPhone 15 isn’t significantly better at video games, except for loading titles like Asphalt 9 a few seconds faster, and it can’t render AAA games like the 15 Pro.
The iPhone 15’s CPU consumes 20% less power, which shows in its durability. Though both phones can easily last a day on a single charge, the new iPhone 15 offers an hour more screen time. In practical terms, this can result in an extra couple of hours of battery life. The iPhone 15 Plus, on the other hand, effortlessly clocks six hours of screen time and can last a day and a half.
The charging speeds are also identical. Over wired connections, a 20W converter can charge the iPhone 15 and iPhone 13 to 50% in roughly 30 minutes. Both support 15W charging via MagSafe and 7.5W on Qi wireless chargers.
GET THE IPHONE 15 FOR:
- Dynamic Island
- 48 MP primary camera
- A16 Bionic Chipset
GET THE IPHONE 13 FOR:
- Quite affordable
- Good battery life
- Still powerful.
