Apple Traded The iPhone 13 Notch For “This,” And We Like It
No, the notch is not yet fully gone, but the iPhone 13 has a 20% smaller notch. This means Apple has been able to shrink down the Face ID system, to give us more screen real estate. It isn’t the only thing that the iPhone 13 does right. The latest iPhones also have rearranged internals to accommodate a bigger battery.
So when we say we like the direction Apple is taking, we mean the direction of smaller notches and better batteries. Since the iPhone 13 launch, we’ve seen teardowns and battery tests where the iPhone 13 Mini has been able to outperform the iPhone 12. Apple has fixed the one major flaw of the iPhone 12 Mini by extending the battery life on the 13 Mini.
Small Notch, No Notch
As an iPhone user myself, I notice the notch every time. Whether I’m playing a game or watching a video on full screen, the notch definitely gets in the way. However, Apple is slowly fixing the issue by shrinking the notch.
This year’s 20% shrink already looks good on most of the iPhones. But with the ‘Mini’ model going around, the notch needs to be even smaller or it is more noticeable, thanks to the ‘Mini’ display. So if this 20% progress is to grow to 40% or 60% next year, that’d be a good thing.
iPhone 13: Got Juice
We compared the iPhone 13 vs iPhone 12 and there too, the iPhone 13 comes out with 2 extra hours of video playback. Here’s a table to see how the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineup compares in terms of battery capacity.
| iPhone 13 Series – Battery Capacity | iPhone 12 Series – Battery Capacity |
| iPhone 13 Mini – 2,406 mAh | iPhone 12 Mini- 2,227 mAh |
| iPhone 13 – 3,227 mAh | iPhone 12- 2,815 mAh |
| iPhone 13 Pro – 3,095 mAh | iPhone 12 Pro – 2,815 mAh |
| iPhone 13 Pro Max – 4,352 mAh | iPhone 12 Pro Max – 3,687 mAh |
The iPhone 12 lineup uses the same battery on the regular 12 and the 12 Pro. Coming to this year, the iPhone 13 Pro gets a smaller battery, which doesn’t make sense, given the 120Hz refresh rate. So if you’re going for battery life, you have to choose between the regular iPhone 13, or the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
In my iPhone 12 Mini review, one of the biggest problems I face with the device is the battery life. While the regular iPhone 12 can give you a full day of battery, an iPhone 12 Mini needs to be charged around mid-day, no matter how you use it. After the 12 Mini’s above-average battery backup, Apple decided to fix it with the entire 13 series lineup.
Arun Maini aka MrWhoseTheBoss conducted a comprehensive iPhone 13 series battery test. He placed the iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 11, and the iPhone SE side by side. In the comparison video, we can see the iPhone SE has the worst battery backup of all.
The test also shows how Apple has improved battery performance over the years. With the SE being the oldest model, and the performance improving each year. That said, the iPhone 13 Pro Max also beat the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra in terms of battery life. Not just that, it lasted close to 10 hours of social media, gaming, and camera usage.
So with the notch shrinking, battery life extending, and Pro features like sensor-shift coming down to the regular iPhone 13, we can already see next year’s iPhones being a promising package. Apple is taking an approach where it is now fixing the flaws of its existing design. Let’s see how long it takes for the notch to completely go away.
