iPhone 13 reviews are here, and Apple isn't lying about battery life

iPhone 13 Pro Max
The iPhone 13 Pro Max (Image credit: TechRadar)

The iPhone 13 reviews have landed, and we've now had time to experiment with the iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max.

We've yet to have enough time with each handset to provide you with our final verdict, but we hope to have a star rating for our iPhone 13 review in the coming days. We'll then have reviews of every other model in the near future.

What is the main takeaway here? Apple isn't lying about battery life. At its September 14 launch event, Apple made claims that battery life is far better than on the iPhone 12 series, and we can confirm that's right.

This still isn't offering the absolute best battery life available on a smartphone, but it does mark a significant improvement over previous iPhone models and means each of these handsets is easier to recommend.

The iPhone 13 is the phone we've tested the most out of the new series of devices, and we've been impressed with the incremental improvements it offers over previous iPhone devices.

Headline grabbing features are few and far between on the iPhone 13, but our extended first look at the device shows there are significant improvements to the screen, battery life, camera and performance.

In our testing, we found the iPhone 13 was capable of over nine hours of screen-on time with full brightness turned up. After that test, the phone still had around 20% of its battery leftover. That's with a mixture of tasks throughout the day, and a lot of video streaming.

Plus, we've also had a brief time with the iPhone 13 mini that shows promise with its premium design in a smaller form factor. We will have a full review with further insight into how it works soon.

What about the other models?

iPhone 13 Pro

The iPhone 13 Pro (Image credit: TechRadar)

We've used the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max briefly as well, and the immediate change we've noticed is the introduction of the 120Hz refresh rate.

With many Android phones already offering similar refresh rate technology (and in some cases even higher) it is great to see this feature come to those who own Apple’s phones. 

This will make scrolling through social media feeds or playing mobile games an even smoother experience.

Expect to see our full review of the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max in the next week when we've had more time to use the smartphones and fully put each model to the test.

James Peckham

James is Managing Editor for Android Police. Previously, he was Senior Phones Editor for TechRadar, and he has covered smartphones and the mobile space for the best part of a decade bringing you news on all the big announcements from top manufacturers making mobile phones and other portable gadgets. James is often testing out and reviewing the latest and greatest mobile phones, smartwatches, tablets, virtual reality headsets, fitness trackers and more. He once fell over.