iPhone 16 vs iPhone 13: All the rumored upgrades

Intro

What are the new features in the iPhone 16 compared to the iPhone 13, released three years prior? And is it finally time for iPhone 13 owners to make the switch?

Apple will officially unveil the iPhone 16 series on Monday, September 9th, but even now we already know most new features from various leaks and rumors.

Despite the three year difference, the iPhone 16 will look very similar to the iPhone 13, as both have a 6.1-inch size and similar design. The iPhone 16 will add two new physical buttons, the Action button and the Capture button, and it alsom comes with a higher resolution 48MP main camera.

Of course, it also has a new and faster processor, and it will support Apple Intelligence, which is not coming to the iPhone 13.

Unfortunately, the 120Hz ProMotion display feature is not coming to the iPhone 16 and will remain exclusive to the Pro models for at least one more year.

Let’s explore all of the changes in more detail below.

iPhone 16 vs iPhone 13 expected differences:

Table of Contents:

Also read:

Design and Display Quality

Slightly refined design and new buttons

From afar, the iPhone 16 looks very similar to the iPhone 13. After all, both phones have roughly the same 6.1-inch size with flat sides.

But once you take a closer look, you can spot the differences. First, the iPhone 16 gets two new physical keys. The Mute switch from the iPhone 13 is replaced by a new programmable Action button.

There is also a new Capture button on the right side, below the power key, which works in many ways like the shutter button on a real camera. It’s a two-way key, so you can half-press it to lock focus, while a full press captures a photo or records a video. It is a capacitive button, so it won’t trigger when you have the phone in your pocket, and its surface can also act as a trackpad of sorts, so you can swipe to zoom in or adjust the background blur strength when shooting portraits, for example.

There are other, smaller changes to the style. The dual camera on the back is now a vertical one, instead of diagonal.

The back itself is expected to be frosted, and not glossy as on the iPhone 13.

And you have a USB-C port on the iPhone 16, a very welcome switch from the Lightning port on the iPhone 13.

Both devices have full IP68 water and dust protection.

Has Apple improved the screen? Both phones have the same size 6.1-inch OLED screen, with the same 1170p resolution, but the new iPhone 16 can get brighter. The older iPhone 13 has a peak brightness of 1,200 nits, while we anticipated the iPhone 16 hitting at least 2,000 nits. This makes it much easier to use outdoors.

And we already mentioned the big letdown – there will still be no 120Hz ProMotion on the iPhone 16! That feature makes for much smoother scrolling and is great to have. Rumors at least say ProMotion will arrive on the vanilla iPhone 17 model in 2025, but that hardly helps now.

Performance and Software

New iPhone, new chip 

In the three years since the iPhone 13 launch, chips have improved and the iPhone 16 will indeed be significantly faster.

The iPhone 13 has the A15 Bionic chip under the hood, a 5nm technology, while the iPhone 16 is expected to be the first of the regular iPhone series to have a 3nm chipset, the supposed Apple A18. Just remember not to mistake this chip with the faster A18 Pro chip in the iPhone 16 Pro models.

Even more important is the fact that the iPhone 16 will get 8GB of RAM, up from 4GB on the iPhone 13. This will grant the iPhone 16 access to all the new Apple Intelligence (AI) features, while the iPhone 13 will miss out on AI.

Don’t expect a bump in storage on the iPhone 16 – you will still have a 128GB base model, as well as 256GB or 512GB storage options.

The iPhone 16 is likely to use a newer modem (the Snapdragon X70) compared to the iPhone 13 (Snapdragon X60), so signal should be improved in some areas.

Camera

New Capture button and a more capable main camera

Both the iPhone 16 and iPhone 13 have a similar dual rear camera with a main and an ultra-wide lens.

The big change for iPhone 13 owners will be the jump to a 48MP main camera compared to the 12MP snapper on the 13. With this new sensor, you get more detail, better low light photos and 2X lossless zoom quality, a big improvement over the iPhone 13‘s digital zoom.

The ultra-wide camera, however, has not changed all that much with a similar 12MP sensor on both phones.

And we’ve already mentioned the useful Capture button that will allow you to capture those fleeting moments easier on the iPhone 16. We expect a full breakdown of its functions at the Apple event soon.

We also expect to see a new JPEG-XL image format on the iPhone 16, so we are curious if that will also mean higher quality images.

But the big-ticket item in photography is AI. We have already seen the new “Clean Up” tool in Photos which allows you to delete objects from images super easily, and we expect a smart resize and smart move feature too.

For video, however, don’t hold your breath for a huge change, as quality will still max out 4K60.

With the vertical camera, however, you should be able to record Spatial Video for the first time on a non-Pro iPhone. You can then play those 3D videos on the Apple Vision Pro. That’s cool, we are just not sure how many people will actually use this feature as these AR headsets are not very popular currently.

Audio Quality and Haptics

Apple continues with ongoing improvements to iPhone loudspeakers, but those changes are subtle, so don’t expect ground-breaking tweaks in the iPhone 16 audio.

As for haptic feedback, it has been consistently excellent since the iPhone 6s introduced the Taptic Engine, so we don’t anticipate change in that area either.

Battery Life and Charging

Slightly bigger battery and even faster charging (possibly, maybe)

The iPhone 16 will get only a slightly larger battery than the iPhone 13. Leaks mention a 3,561mAh battery, a nearly 10% bump over the 3,240mAh battery on the iPhone 13.

Let’s see if this actually makes some real difference to battery life.

Currently, Apple rates the iPhone 13 for 19 hours of video playback and 75 hours of audio playback, and soon we will have the estimates for the iPhone 16.

Surprisingly, we could also see a change in charging speeds, the first one in years.

Rumors say the iPhone 16 might get 40W fast wired charging, doubling the speed from before. Even MagSafe wireless charging might get speedier at 20W vs 15W previously.

That remains a possibility rather than a certainty, though, so let’s wait for the official announcement before celebrating.

   

Specs Comparison

Should you upgrade?

Is it time for iPhone 13 owners to make the leap to the iPhone 16?

Our take is this: you could wait another year.

The main reason we say this is because the most anticipated new feature, ProMotion, is still not available on the iPhone 16, and rumors say it might finally arrive on the iPhone 17 in 2025.

The other reason is that the big AI upgrades will arrive slowly to the iPhone 16, and features such as the new Siri are only expected to land next year. So even if you like AI, it will be arriving slowly to iPhones.

As for the rest, you have some welcome camera and overall performance improvements, and the new buttons are nice. And we really like having a USB-C port on the iPhone 16. But all of these are probably not quite a game-changer for most people.

Of course, if you have the money, you will be happy with the iPhone 16 as it is improved all around, but if you really want a huge upgrade, we think it might be wise to hold off for the iPhone 17.

What is your take on this? Would you switch to the iPhone 16 and what is your favorite new feature?


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