Ever since the drop of the first iPod Touch, Apple has been a fan-favorite. Other companies would try to rise to the top with their unique advancements, but with a new iPhone coming out almost every year better than the last, it’s pretty hard to beat the top dog. Then, fast-forward to 2021, and Apple has released its new state-of-the-art technology: the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max. 

At first glance, the new iPhones appear to come with new appearances, including color and thickness. For colors, there are various options, including Midnight, Red, Pink, Blue, and Starlight. Some shades are more vivid or lighter than previous year’s releases with the Red standing out more than before and the Pink turning into a soft tone. Then, they are slightly heavier and thicker than their predecessors and the cameras on the back are set diagonally rather than the traditional vertical placement.

Display-wise, not much differs between these and the previous iPhone 12. The only noticeable difference is the fact that the notch at the top of the screen is smaller in order to provide the appearance of a slightly bigger display.

However, technical-wise, the iPhone 13 has many new improvements. To start, the old A14 chip is now replaced by the A15, which allows all new iPhone 13’s to run faster than ever before. Then, all models start with 128 GB of storage and are able to upgrade up to 1 TB, or 1000 GB. They support up to 4K video recording at 24, 25, 30, and 60 frames per second, and HDR video recording with Dolby Vision at 4K up to 60 frames per second. Plus, with a new Cinematic Mode introduced, focus can shift from subject-to-subject, allowing various backgrounds to be blurred.

But, in order to test out and experiment all of these new features, a long battery life is going to be needed. Well, for that you’re in luck because all of the iPhone 13’s can last for over 12 hours, which is over a two hour improvement from the previous iPhones.

Even with all of these impressive additions, the price difference between this and the previous iPhone is about $100, but some people aren’t willing to pay that difference.

“The new iPhones don’t look crazy different or new and personally, I wouldn’t buy it,” said senior Amber-Marie Carpintero.

Alesia Quiros and Armando Gutierrez, current juniors at ILS, are fans of the new iPhone. “I think the new phone is cool and I already bought it,” said Gutierrez.

So, do you think that this new phone is worth it, or is it simply more of the same?