Apple unveiled the iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 pro, and iPhone 13 pro max on Sept. 24. The iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini boast a super strong ceramic shield, a longer battery life, new wide and ultra wide camera settings, and the cinematic camera mode, which according to the Apple website, “automatically creates beautiful depth effects and focus transitions.”

Ishan Khurana ‘24 says that his iPhone 13 “doesn’t feel that different from [his old phone],” the iPhone 10. However, he has noticed the improved battery life and says, “I have [used cinematic mode], it’s kind of cool, it’s like professional film photography.”

The iPhone 13 pro and iPhone 13 pro max have an even sharper camera, stronger zoom, and a special night mode. Shreya Mohan ‘22 preordered the iPhone 13 pro because her old phone’s “screen was coming off,” and she received it on Sept. 24. She has the brand new sierra blue color and shares that receiving her new phone “was [exciting] especially because my old phone was on the verge of falling apart.”

About the new camera’s zoom capabilities, Mohan shares, “I actually really like it; it zooms in really close, which is actually really fun to magnify things with.” Mohan has yet to experiment with cinematic mode, though. Like Khurana, she too has noticed the improved battery life, saying, “I have [noticed the longer battery life] because I can listen to music in the car and talk on the phone with someone for 40 minutes without my battery getting [to] thirty percent.”

Nana Vang ‘24 made the switch to the iPhone 13 from her previous Samsung phone. Vang says that she made the switch to Apple because “I guess overall it makes my life easier with friends or socially, and I don’t really use my phone for any other things, so just priorities for me, it made sense to get [an iPhone].”

Despite this newfound ease, Vang shares that “I honestly don’t like Apple in general…There’s a lot of software things that I dislike very much.” She cites the lack of freedom in adjusting the home screen, the drop down menu taking three clicks, and the loss of fingerprint recognition as a few of these “software things.”

She also shares that she lost various photos and important files during the actual transition process. Despite this, she echoes Mohan and Khurana’s sentiments regarding the longer battery life and high quality camera.